Autumn wind

by Kobayashi Issa

English version by Lucien Stryk and Takashi Ikemoto
Original Language Japanese

Autumn wind --
mountain's shadow
wavers.

-- from Zen Poetry: Let the Spring Breeze Enter, Translated by Lucien Stryk / Translated by Takashi Ikemoto

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Commentary by Ivan M. Granger

Something to welcome in the Autumn season today...

In that "autumn wind," late in one's life, far down the road of one's spiritual practice, the imposing shadow cast by that "mountain" (of matter, world, self) seems somehow to waver, becoming less tangible, more dream-like, leaving us in a surprisingly fluid reality.

Before long it's not just the trees and the grasses that dance in the wind, but mountains too!



Recommended Books: Kobayashi Issa

The Longing in Between: Sacred Poetry from Around the World (A Poetry Chaikhana Anthology) Zen Poetry: Let the Spring Breeze Enter This Dance of Bliss: Ecstatic Poetry from Around the World The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry The Poetry of Zen: (Shambhala Library)
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Autumn wind