Here is a gem by ISSA. If I ever have a hermitage in the mountains, this haiku will be fastened to my door post!
|  Idylwild, CA |
仏ともならでうかうか老の松
hotoke-tomo narade-ukauka oi-no-matsu
Not a Buddha yet,
And lost in mindless dreaming:
An ancient pine tree.
Another verse by the same poet in a free translation...
鳴虫も節を付たり世の中は
naku-mushi-mo fushi-wo-tsuketari yo-no-naka-wa
Even the insects,
Taking up the primal tune,
Fill the world with sound.
Kannon Bosatsu - Koyasan Temple, Little Tokyo, Los Angeles CA
Poems from 風雅和歌集巻第十六 (Fuga Wakashu Vol. 16) about evening and morning hours… in my translations, I preserve the traditional syllabic pattern of 5-7-5-7-7.
山もとはまづ暮れそめて峰高き梢に殘るゆふ日かげかな
At the mountain base,
shadows encroaching at first;
Higher on the crest,
lingering in the treetops:
The light of the evening sun.
朝がらす聲する森の梢しも月は夜ふかきありあけのかげ
The raven at dawn
sounds a call from the woodland.
Upon the treetops,
the moon, from the depth of night,
casts its light before daybreak.
鐘の音に夢は覺めぬる後にしも更に寂しきあかつきの床
The sound of a bell
awakens me from a dream.
In the next moment,
a deep sense of loneliness
in my bed at dawn.
聞き聞かず同じ響きも亂るなり嵐のうちのあかつきの鐘
kiki-kikazu onaji-hibiki-mo midaru-nari arashi-no-uchi-no akatsuki-no-kane
Hear it now and then…
The same resonating tone
becomes chaotic
amidst a raging tempest:
Temple bell ringing at dawn.
Manjushri - Koyasan Temple, Little Tokyo, Los Angeles CA
