Cold dew; oh royal
flower, do the two maples
lead to the willow?
Day of longest dark.
Sacred imperial bird,
how worthy you are!
Equality of
night and day. On a lone branch:
the cherry blossom.
Great coldness settles.
A pine, then another; a
line of poetry.
Now autumn begins.
Bush clover; then two stalks of
maiden silvergrass.
Now the summer starts.
Wisteria and iris
from my eight-plank bridge.
Planting time; iris
surpassed by two peonies,
then the bush clover.
Rain waters the crops.
Cherry and wisteria --
come over, cuckoo.
Snow begins to fall.
The calligrapher and frog;
bright paulownia!
Spring begins: ribbon
of poetry. In a tree,
the bush-warbler sings.
The dew glistens white;
unfurling before me now
the purple ribbon.
The heat withdrawing.
See the wild geese in their flight;
chrysanthemum blooms.
The huge heat arrives.
Contemplate the red ribbon
with nothing to read.
The start of winter;
how the swaying red ribbon
enchants the swallow.
Wintering insects
arise from sleep. A curtain
for a festival.