Pond

 
 
 

frog pond in moonlight—
 
a freight train’s moaning whistle
 
ripples the water

Fence

 
 
 

sizzling summer day—
 
the neighbor’s new cedar fence
 
shrinks into itself

Last

 
 
 

Little brown sparrow,
 
to the willow’s topmost branch
 
your last song still clings.

Rush

 
 
 

Little brown sparrow,
 
the song rushing from your beak
 
startles a cricket.

Other

 
 
 

Little brown sparrow,
 
do you know no other song,
 
save the one you sing?

Amusement

 
 
 

Little brown sparrow,
 
the song that spills from your beak
 
amuses the crow.

Rain

 
 
 

Little brown sparrow,
 
how will you find your way home
 
through the driving rain?

Grouch

 
 
 

Little brown sparrow,
 
my grouchy next-door neighbor
 
thinks you sing too much.

Brushed

 
 
 

Little brown sparrow,
 
three lines brushed on rice paper
 
tell your history.

Butterfly

 
 
 

Yellow butterfly,
 
beware the hungry robin
 
eyeing you at noon.