Shiki’s ambition
an insatiable tiger
stripped of its claws
his poem journeys
to smaller mountains now
- cockscomb and peony
from his sickbed
observing the beauty
of all that passes
a fish in a bowl
swimming in glass-walled freedom
this painful beauty
a moonflower falls
the night so quiet
it echoes
dawn breaks early
the night too short
and painfully long
his fever rising
how he longs for the rain
of the picture-book store
Shiki’s frail hand
love letters to a garden
seen through a window
Shiki in his bed
strolling through the garden
stepping on nothing
Shiki flies out
among the chrysanthemums
- a butterfly
outside his window
the dew evaporates
each drop a Shiki
the invalid poet
a once in a lifetime
persimmon
Shiki rises up
his body motionless
- hototogisu
Shiki’s death bed
the bird has taken flight
unseen garden
Shiki’s empty bed
his enduring brilliance
loaned to a star
From His Sickbed - a sequence
- Details
- Written by: Gregory Tullock