Sea of Clouds (the art of change)
The November sun Dazzles our faces with eyes closed The bright glow of coloured leaves Is not of this world Here, today It is another universe That looks like the world As it is Of islands, rivers, mountains, oceans A monochrome universe Emerges from the stone Expanding my mind Falling on the moss Like shooting stars The maple leaves Swept by the autumn wind Or by the gardener In the twilight From the path of Yoshida Hill I walk along the candlelight on the ground A black butterfly As big as my hand Escapes from the darkness of the undergrowth - Or is it a bat? A tiny tea house Above the bamboo grove of Kodai-ji temple Under the full autumn moon That illuminates the scarlet maples And the cold of a night Full of promise Drop after drop The basin of water fills With the inebriation of life Under the amazed gaze Of a wise man silent Like the passing of time Small granite monk's heads In a sea of green moss Smile at life As well as to death Autumn rings hollow Under the crackling sound Of leaves tinged With the past I watch my thoughts Reflected in the clear water Of the lotus pool Then floating Like a sea of clouds In a distant sky.
Manabeshima
Under the clouds diving into water The absence of a new beginning In the middle of this inland sea Calm as a shoreless lake I consider the possibility of an island Swaying in the wind - A solitary jellyfish!
Kiyotaki or the valley of bliss
The number eight bus abandons me at the curve Stone stairs going down Stone stairs going up The face of the Buddha is invisible In this mountain temple The Japanese maples smile Behind their faces scorched by the sun And the coolness of the mountain nights Stairs again and again The sound of a Japanese lute Makes the humid air vibrate on the river I follow the path that follows the water Climbing over blunt rocks And suddenly the sight of a vermilion bridge Amidst the vermilion maples A man is fishing with a line Sitting on the granite pebbles As in an old print by master Hiroshige - The hanging bridge of dreams.
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These poems have been translated from French by the author. The book Rêves d’un mangeur de kakis is available from the publisher (www.michikusapublishing.com) or directly from the author.
For other writing by Robert Weis, see Mind Games in Arashiyama, or 71 Lessons on Eternity. For more on his travels, see his account of a walk from Ohara to Kurama here, or his spiritual journey to Kyoto here. His account of Nicolas Bouvier in Kyoto in the mid-1950s can be read here.
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