When composing a verse let there not be a hair's breath separating your mind from what you write; composition of a poem must be done in an instant, like a woodcutter felling a huge tree or a swordsman leaping at a dangerous enemy.

Why so scrawny, cat?Starving for fat fish or mice...Or backyard love?

Even in Kyoto--Hearing the cuckoo's cry--I long for Kyoto

Summer grasses,All that remainsOf soldiers' dreams

Twilight whippoorwill...Whistle on, sweet deepenerOf dark loneliness

On a bare branch a crow is perched - autumn evening

If I had the knackI'd sing likeCherry flakes falling

Kareeda niKarasu no tomarikeriAki no kuretrans:On a bare branchA crow is perched -Autumn evening

April's air stirs in Willow-leaves...a butterflyFloats and balances