Second Rohatsu in the hut, she feels
cycles of living/not living,
fallen leaves and fallen foxes
fallen snowflakes, falling rain
Sesshin, kinhin, walking meditation, twenty people shuffling gently on the laptop screen behind her; she picks up her cup in passing and pauses to count starlings. When did they begin to stay all winter?
The cries of crickets are already scarce and far between.
--Ryokan, tr. Nobuyuki Yuasa, Zen Poems of Ryokan, 75