all night long

sound of rain
pounding
on sleepless grass

long winter furrows
run through these lids
where from updrafts
i try to shield a soul

from faraway
have erred till here
drawn by these vapors
pearling on the pane
all night long

transhumance

bird’s path you follow
call it treading
flying
falling

from one end to another
notes of vernal branches
drift along the breeze

unseen traces unfold
song-clusters in echo
contained in silence

its one body
in one sphere
from one end
to another
azure

it’s the no end
mirrors coming
going
non-abiding

chiming bell of stones
meld with sigh of grass
slowly waking in the prairie
throbbed with morning light

call

ocean's pure invention
each dawn
she summons the wind
to recapture me
from pits of sleep
where
mere keepsake of their cawing
one late flight
crows abandoned me

she draws me to her waters
where now
where now for ever I stand
a listening
to nothing bound
receiving her release
as she rolls

recollection

fingers
plumes of yearning
beyond the body reach

nothing to grasp
nothing to yield
they know it now
we know it now

someone’s flawed memory
called us back to this shore
detouring our exit from exile
we know it now

images resurface on spume
the sea no longer retrieves

thirsting for new skies
leaking at the seams
we set a boat afloat

something veils us in the daylight
as we wait for waves to intercede

inquiry

in a letter of intents
addressed to friends
to friends to come

healed of wounds
of wounds to come
softened with pain
yielding to a smile

brief but repentant in tone
blames passed on to gales
to tide-awakening mistral
where roars delivered
unroll scroll of seas
of seas to come

friends
where are you

one-way ticket

it is bliss to live
it is bliss to die
starry or starless tonight
some obscured in wells
some still suspended
from blade of pledges

bliss to shed your foliage
offer every leaf to the gale
efface calumny of seasons
hue of their alluring rhymes

bliss to be a chilly wind
unsheltered by memory
sweep aside perception
breathe a hasty sleep
on things that shimmer
then descending the mine
rejoin early siblings
spark-filled stones
coffer where rests
the primal dawn

bliss to relinquish pain
tell it recall this heart
with your flames i fed it
crystal cleaving lifeless layers
confines that cannot reach
this rest of animal cry

sometimes

when images all fade away
from nowhere surges a tree
lonesome you may add
with spark speediness
from a recess of universe
heeding its own appeal
yet words are too much
for such frail apparition

for such frail apparition
unaware of blooming
unaware of shedding
leaves apart from grief
orchards afar from fruit
roots severed from heart
is absolved of laws
that govern growth

question of us

over and again I read
the poem you didn’t write
didn’t send

in it I see lushness of spring
fall’s transparency
evenness of pain
in summer’s full glow

in it I hear the wind
roam without direction
shaking early leaves
uprooting years
feeding paths with snow

nowhere a shelter
except in waiting
for the poem
never to be written
never to be read

murmured on quiet lips
restless echo of stirrings
unaccounted by our strife
nowhere a question of us
sky speckless of our lament

you stretch out your hand
palm open not to receive
relinquishing answers
to abide by the question
one left out in the wild

that mute unwanted prayer
for alms
you no longer wish
for in your heart
heart
you no longer wish

night

watching big dipper
sink behind open fields

beneath a broken staircase
moon distils a winter sky

cold spaces to remember

unmindful of your path
of fortunes told
of before and after
fixing infinity

you are a mound
a prayer hive
promises
to you return

avici

eight and last of hells
where I may have landed
for always persists a doubt
paraphernalia indispensable
to ever reeling torments

fall depicts the shift better
its getting better and better
as you confound sin and karma
confusion and insight
mind's cascading images

its still not here yet
further downwards
further pitwards
in deeper darks
you have to reach
or plunge or sink or fall
all options remain open
marvellously open
to quieten the source
that mirrors retribution

a lot of heart left in you
left to be skinned
cries to be pinned
born or dead
reborn
reborn to suffer
suffer proper

peace

sky gets thicker
to shelter trees
night reaches closer

to everything
rest is given

tiles on star-lit roofs
the nettle
cobbles on the alley

ei tai-ji

winter retreat

late in coming
slow in falling
year’s first snow

cimetière du montparnasse

drenching rain outside
beneath an umbrella
here a couple kissing
there
people waiting for a ride
mourners
done with farewell
done with flowers

alongside the avenue
acacias shed leaves
dispersed on ground
stirring in puddles

long
their surrender to light
and those below
those above
same stuff
all homeless bound

parting

your beam of light
adorns my eyes
blinded by erring in airs
darks where soul
cannot alight
cannot sojourn

earth
you call your lips
where for a night
you house the stranger

gates of wind
open up in my ears
its your whisper I hear

remember
this is nirvana
of all shores
the other

here
your hands in mine
weigh petals
as from the plum-tree
they loosen their hold

aire

you said you didn’t know
sky has so many stars
you said you didn’t know
each day they age with us
you said you didn’t know
eye is lair to their sleep

rohatsu

winter retreat ends
pain floods the body
chills the burning bough

roaming empty fields
icy wind inside sleeves
cold rain slapping
each step deeper into mud

night
where to turn to
tonight
bitter winter
on the road

soulwork

east and west
waiting expanded
beyond threshold
of isolation

tear your lids
eyes open wide
stare into peril of light

its an even dark
deep spaces
signs nowhere
mesures to come

prayers
need not advance
need not return
accounts are squared
axes turning

sleep
sleep
yes
this far we have come

serene peaks

clasping my hand he said
its all a tale about erring
little matters if you know
where you are going
just be a cloud
let not the wind
absence of wind
hinder you from floating
from returning
through bitter roots
of sky disconsolate
to a mountain shelter
where paths come to rest
all comes to rest

eclipse

and why should you not
be cradled by palms
profuse with insomnia

metaphors drift seawards
where in cooler breeze
cries are shrouded

so still you stand and stare
beyond pain’s frame
a path from one end
to no end leading

sunset afterglow
spans
lower skies
deserted strand

memory
mourning moon
riding tideless nights

mujo

it was April
remember
we were standing
on the temple terrace
the cherry-tree abloom
an easterly breeze
unpetalling its flowers
as we looked beyond the pond
at misty southern ranges

-what never changes
impermanence everywhere

-that which always changes


question and answer
simply seeing
seamless

mind and mind
no mind
just hearing

sound of one hand
echoing in the valley

hiver

perfectly still
perfectly cold
mind-cold

light goes out
from the only hut
in the somber valley

mind-cold
sphere-cold
that lofty music
finally stilled

evergreens

we were fated to meet
on this lost hilltop road
evergreens
you mantled in white
me a homeless shadow
our heart sibilant
evergreens
a mantra of storm
snowstorm
flurrying
evergreens
engulfing slopes
when we are turned
as we slowly turn
evergreens
the waning light
of winter pages
of no return
evergreens

mu

it takes a dog
to delve into dog nature
a Buddha cannot do it
much less a man
were he to open the gate
spoon-feed you
with emptiness

nearest

early one morning
sweeping linden leaves
on his doorstep
i go to see the Master
with dizang’s case

asked to what purpose his pilgrimage
fayan replies: i don’t know
hears master's consent
not knowing is nearest

marvellous
this unknowing

a smile lights tokuda’s face

are we of one mind
as to this unknowing
who knows

only who knows

death-poem

my death-poem
too early to be written
late to be read

winds sweep the mountain prairie
unfurl waves through wild grass

no one came here
no one ever left

peace unstirring

unmapped

bird’s path you follow
call it treading
flying

from one end to another
notes of budding branches
in an early morning sky
drift along the breeze

unseen traces unfold
song-clusters in echo
contained in silence

its one body
from one end to another
it’s the no end
mirrors coming and going
non-abiding

chiming wind-bell of stones
blends
with sighs of slender grass
slowly waking in the prairie
throbbed with morning light

quinces

captured from branch-tops
you enter the hermitage
your fragrance
preceeding you

overflowing the basket
it slowly sways
the dinning hall

sleeping and waking
are one to you
in this unknown closeness

you release
automn's last instinct
as you hear us chant
the Heart-sutra
each morning for you

rocher de la baume

pile of books
drowsy
on the bed side

chill chases
insects from the room

wings left behind
without objection
they leave
one by one

behind the wall
water trickles
on mossy rock
all night long

automn

breeze blows
branches sway
mind glides
on tree-tops

mountain pines in deep shade
this slope still sun-bathed

lying in the bramble
covered by reddening leaves
listening to insect cries
distant flows of human grief

inmo

Master Tokuda

how far into learning
before knowing emerges
into knowing
before unknowing is revealed

how far in the voiceless dark
before the unspeakable
murmurs the opening syllable
and the man of such

turns his face
begins to utter
words of water
streaming over
words of stone

your disciple
Tetsu-un

Ei Tai-Ji

désirs d'avenir

visit to the memorial park
where your mother rests
brought a bouquet of roses
you wanted them yellow

arc of fingers
in prayer
over the headstone

sustainer of worlds
show us the straight path

what comes after death
you ask as you speed up
on the drive back home

elm lines
race pass the windshield
blazing
in the morning glare

anchor

here our journey ends
trip within a trip
leaving one sea
for another
blue for another
night for another
with star-glitters
flaking in between
to keep the road going

reel of fishing-boats
string the dark
with shinning pearls
a distant roar
keeps immersing

Ryotan Tokuda's last teisho

before entering nirvana
I open the window for you
here comes the wind
sweeping away the shrine
blowing out candles
glow of your questions
unasked
that you cannot see

nuit

tu célèbres ton achèvement
et nous avec toi
l’ordre de tes étoiles
tourné contre nous

rassasis
avec leur ombre
nous tournons
guidés par ton appel
grimpons
pas à pas
tes marches spéculaires

il n’est de chemin
qu’en silence tu ne portes
douleur que tu ne brises
écart que tu n’effaces

toute soif
abondance de solitude
coule en toi
s’apaise pour toi

once again

once again inside
this unachieved stone
digging out a name
your name
father
with finger rests

closest
I'll ever come
to knowing
forgetting

all forgetting

lanterne

soufflant
les chandelles des mas
tu emportes les oliviers
et te glisses dans la nuit
alors qu’elle met un arrêt
à la marche des collines
vers la mer

paupières arrachées
tu éclaires aux spectres
la grand-route
qui tombe dans la paix

breeze

palm-leaves’ rustle
unending

waves on the shore
breaking

bird psalmodies
myriad spirals
loosened in the air

traveller
its the same book
erring
we write
writing
we efface

drinking light of sands
pouring into the eyes

calls
recalls of emptiness

élan

no fear
I shall return your call
frightening though
these heights
where your calling
makes me soar

then the fall
into the precipice
where
whispering stones
golden rivers
into silence flow

it is one to live
one to die
to be released
roam with shadows
with these melodies
from distant shores
you stream inside

sutra chanting

predawn sitting
then one by one
waking the patriarchs
for the daily call

none missing

its still dark outside
where mountains begin
valleys end
in this mantle of snow

wheeling rings of light
sink
behind the giant boulder

benumbed in this cold
never ending grieves
who's heart
stinging the fingertips

datsu raku

body
left behind
mind too
shed
in a barren tree

moon-bathing now
in purple twilight

standing with you
erring with you
cleared of attainment
dying with you

and I look at your stone
my own true face
as it snows over
the last colour of grass

chronos

heavy snowfall
on mountain slopes

sitting on a flat stone
beneath a stooping pine

is it
was it

time itself
is it
was it

span of its sway
over us
we the blind
divesting darkness
of orphaned nebulae

else
else than an erring cloud

timeless

no matter in what state
the old Buddha’s mind
I’ve always been here
sitting
in the palm of his hand
heart flooding
with grieving and love

Ps 104:2

beacons
eyes roaming
in the dark

what farthest
they illumine
deserts
just deserts
beckoning

sisters out there
whimpering stars
hard to console
staring from
empty doorways

foliage
adorning
a wheeling
tapestry

further
creation

thirsting chaos

adieu

there goes the moth
night’s sole companion
entering the circle of flames
sound of wings scorching
still echoes in the mind

not now but then
mourning begins whenever
a world comes to an end

sleepless
crouched in a cold bed
unable to write verses
in memoriam of
Jacques Derrida

echo

clouds capping mountains
slowly darken the valley
from northern ranges
sounds of thunder echo

crickets swarm the hawthorn
thistles drip with violet

it’s September
some cool is coming
udumbera
when shall your buddhas
rebloom again

poetica

perhaps the last
these waning words

a pitfall
to think

ono
moto
moto po
motopoeic

help the breeze
ply soaked branches

wings outspread
soaring now
above wanting
and abundance


with the drizzle
taming the stiff herbage

mute
spiritless
murmuring
with the thousand holy ones

annunciation

light
sky-light
wind-light
opening to receive
chimes
of your homecoming

sea-bright
sea a lightening
floods the eyes
tides unfurling
an infinity
breaking
on breathless cobbles

with ebb and flow of prayers
blind and heaving
I invoke you
you whirling voice
release your storms
release your chants
unseal visions of
captive emerald

mirage

all night long
sound of rain
falling
on sleepless grass

dripping through lids
these winter furrows
where from updrafts
I try to shield a soul

from faraway
erred till here
drawn by these vapors
pearling on the pane
all night long

somnambule

pour voir plus clair
les stries du sort
je laisse la mare des nuits
me remonter les veines

fabuleux fond bleu
tes yeux émergent

brusque ciel
où se dessinent

des hirondelles
un vol éteint

l’écarlate trouble
de ton sommeil

et de ta peau
les frissons dorés

face to face

its destiny you said
encounter of destinies
should one time we meet

it is an overnight stay
in a run down hermitage
stars spread over the sky
they greet your dark flame
hidden sorrow of the sea

you see my hour go blind
you see tides roll over me
for I have to step aside
to let your echo pass
in the rising mountain

requiem for a fly

on the eve of nativity
you pass the gateway
unbaptized
dates unrecorded

I lift you from the floor
take you down to the garden
embed you on a golden leaf

the cold is behind us now
you can ease your wings
side by side
we listen to the rain
as she dissolves us
in the sombre grass

that night in Mandrem

the village deep asleep
your face slowly flaming
with glow of candles
you kept rekindling
with glow of the wind

rougher now somehow the sea
left with straying tumble-weed
i chase among shipwrecks
early mornings on the beach

not questions' glint
it’s the sea
her foaming tides
inviting me to deeps
never thought in reach
when you left my hand
somewhere in the dark
that night in Mandrem

sansukyo

its summer solstice
you lead me to this peak
where thunders clap
storms gather
before each going
its lonesome way

you open your hand
in your palm I see rivers
blue mountains flowing
its a scripture
where I read

from one word
all paths emerge
same path
wither all words return

its an old word
you keep repeating
making me appear
disappear
when night falls
reappear

la part du feu

are you any closer now
blind rays of summer days
massively collapsing
over serrated rocks
horizon reeling behind
your floating locks
in tide whisperings or

shaded by an olive tree
old grove where mistrals
convened ages to shape
into twined lyres
the saddened heart of trees
strings snapping
as they sing

your eyes reflect
shivers
of pulverized growth

beyond choosing
ablaze
shed images of you
cracking
the ineffable lamp

appel

de cette coulée de lave
comment t’extraire
toi
feu
au feu abandonné

aiguisé
par le cri des mouettes
virevoltant
au-dessus des hauts-fonds
amour
lame refleurie
des abîmes du vent tu reviens
décharger tes débâcles en moi

là
encore debout sur cette grève
la peau ébréchée
par ta parole

for niemand

with drifting dawns
that borrowed voice
mine
within yours
meandering

drowned in troubled waters
your voice now remembering


balmy breeze rises
a kingfisher
broods on his palm-leaf
watching hours ripple
on endless backwaters

alluvium
our voice
alluvium
mine into yours
sinking

closing in
we are closing in
no one
on fault lines of
reason

logos

a full moon illumines stones
and sleepy pebbles
strewn on mountain pathway
grasses and hedges
gleam with frost

voice
the silent voice listens
obeys
the procession of silvery clouds

hereon your kingdom commences
jewelled branches your crown
let sombre tree shades
guide you to the frozen heart
where an austere throne awaits you
among shattering mirrors
myriad

Nachtscharf

digging out the cut
dark decreeing
wound tending
erased from mind
heart-flutters
flight chronicles
merrily creeping
around the moaning pit

etwas Nachtscharf
das nicht fliegen kann

Point Venus

can no longer recall
an early winter poem I wrote
on that south sea island shore

for the same wave washes
what trace we leave on the sand
unfolds our riddled hearts
as we drown to fathom the sea