Clouds in the sky of paradise
Paradise —
I hear smiles from where I gaze.

A dream in vain
To wander through these mountains of mist

Clouds in the sky of paradise
Paradise —
I hear smiles from where I gaze.

A dream in vain
To wander through these mountains of mist

Unknown unsaids
coil around my heart,
injecting censures —
Indifferent to the lighting

Above the fence
a morning glory stretches
still unsatisfied.

"It seems that the morning glory, like man, is never satisfied with its lot, and when it reaches the top of the fence along which it climbs, it keeps shooting upward where there is nothing to support it."

Taken from Japanese Death Poems by Yoel Hoffman

I vanish—
in the window,
snows of Eagle Peak remain.

Context: A death poem/the man's final poem before death. Shiko lived in the eastern section of Kyoto, in the foothills of the mountain called Washi-ga-mine (lit., Eagle Peak). He died during the height of the snowy season.

Taken from Japanese Death Poems by Yoel Hoffman.

Evanesce into my dreams
Where I see that which has withered —
morphed and recoloured
Abnormal: undefined
Anchored to another to which I must refine

Evanesce into my dreams
Where I see that which has withered —
morphed and recoloured
Abnormal: undefined
Anchored to another to which I must refine