The minutes linger yet
Time with her winged sandals
Goes racing past us
As fleeting as the glow of
Fireflies in the twilight

link: cannot outrun to racing past us

Written for the occasion of Rhodri ap Hywel’s birthday

These sacred feelings
Enshrined upon an altar
Trapped behind my teeth
The river breaches its banks
I cannot outrun this flood

Link: Enshrined to Enshrined

Enshrined in my heart
The virtues of my homeland
Truth, hope, and freedom
A magnificent mirage
Reflected in spangled stars

Link: Dwell truth and hope and freedom to Enshrined in my heart

Alone I await
A two-tongued answer that is
Sharpened on both sides
A painful path, yet beyond
Dwell truth and hope and freedom

Link: Alone I awake to Alone I await

Alone I awake
The rosy fingers of dawn
Stir the horizon
The lark’s song, so sweet, so cruel
Mocks me in my solitude

Link: progression from moonlight to early dawn

Refreshing coolness
Shining raindrops glistening
On the moonlit grass
Breathless, I watch his breathing
My head pillowed on his arm

Link: refreshing to refreshing

A passionate heart
Cannot help but share its joy
Gladness overflows
Refreshing the spirit like
A fountain in summertime

Link: progression of the idea of superlatives: echoing to overflowing.

Kansas City, near which I live, is called “The City of Fountains”. They are to be found everywhere here, even out in the suburbs. Medieval Japanese poetry did not utilize fountains much–brooks and streams are more commonly found. However, I wanted to reflect what I see around me, so I chose to use fountains instead.

If I speak softly
The whispers riding my breath
Will fall on deaf ears
But such words in ink defined
Roar, echoing like thunder

Link: my screams unheard within the tumult progress to such words in ink defined roar.

A storm bursts the clouds
Asunder the darkness stirs
Awake the maelstrom
My heart is breaking my screams
Unheard within the tumult

Link: A storm is about to break progresses to A storm bursts.

I left out the commas to see if I could approximate more kakekotoba ( 掛詞 ) pivot words. Japanese can accomplish this better. The structure of English is too precise to allow more than one pivot without sounding odd. But I hope this comes close to the feel. The style I tried for here is what Fujiwara no Teika called “Demon-quelling” (onihishigitei or kiratsu no tei 鬼拉体).

Photo: Fujin (God of Wind) and Raijin (God of Thunder), 13th century, wood, Sanjūsangen-dō 三十三間堂 in the Higashiyama District, Kyoto. Scanned from temple brochure, altered in photoshop by me.

Clicking and chirping
The Brown Thrashers go about
Their birdie business
You little fools, don’t you know
A storm is about to break?

Link: thematic. Birds “warbling in the wind” to “go about their birdie business”

I have a pair of Brown Thrashers hopping about the maple tree outside my window, maybe courting? But the skies are growing dark and we are under a tornado watch. They’re still at it as I type! And yes, I might be referring to what is going on in America politics right now.