Masaoka Shiki

Summer river:

ignoring the bridge,

my horse charges through the water.

Inahata Teiko

Blizzards here on earth,

blizzards of stars

in the sky

Nishiyama Soin

Life: a solitary butterfly

swaying unsteadily on a slender stalk of grass,

nothing more. But so exquisite!

morning was disturb

by a cat swatting a fly

only it's my face

Theodore Roosevelt

It is not the critic who counts

not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles,

or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. 

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena

What am I doing?

The same as I was doing,

like a year ago.

Ō no Yasumaro

Onyx, this gem-black night.

Downcast, I await your return

like the morning sun, unrivaled in splendor.

Kusama Tokihiko

Pale mountain sky:

cherry petals play

as they tumble earthward

Stephen Hawking

“The message of this lecture is that black holes ain’t as black as they are painted. They are not the eternal prisons they were once thought.”

“Things can get out of a black hole both on the outside and possibly to another universe. So if you feel you are in a black hole, don’t give up – there’s a way out…”

“Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at.

It matters that you don’t just give up.”

Sappho

Sing, my sacred tortoiseshell lyre;

come, let my words

accompany your voice

Hokushi

I write, erase, rewrite,

Erase again, and then

A poppy blooms

With closed wilted eyes

I feel the wind against my skin

on this summer night

Masaoka Shiki

The first morning of autumn:

the mirror I investigate

reflects my father's face

Happy Father's Day

Ippekiro Nakatsuka

May I be with my mother

wearing her summer kimono

by the morning window

Matsuo Basho

Among the graffiti

one illuminated name:

Yours.

starry night

Stars strobing on

the evening aurora

van Gogh would envy

Hashimoto Takako

The frozen moon,

the frozen lake:

two oval mirrors reflecting each other.

Michael R. Burch

Night,

the ice and the darkness

conspire against human warmth

Katoh Shuhson

Tonight I saw

how the peony crumples

in the fire's embers

Matsuo Basho

Autumn darkness

               descends

on this road I travel      alone

We salute to you

Bravest Ahoy Mariner

Continue to Sail