The fickle waves of a strand do drench my
sleeves with sprays:
My songs cry only to make the stars sing.

From Yone Noguchi's book Japanese Hokkus for Haiku Bones

I row across the expanse of sea,
And the far-away sky, —
I row across the white billows of pain.

From Yone Noguchi's book Japanese Hokkus for Haiku Bones

It is too late to hear a nightingale?
Tut, tut, tut, . . . some bird sings,-
That's quite enough, my friend.

From Yone Noguchi's book Japanese Hokkus for Haiku Bones

Speak not again, Voice!
The silence washes off sins:
Come not again, Light!

From Yone Noguchi's book Japanese Hokkus for Haiku Bones

This way? or that way?
Where's the very street to Heaven?
What webs of streets!

From Yone Noguchi's book Japanese Hokkus for Haiku Bones

Fallen leaves! Nay, spirits?
Shall I go downward with thee
By a stream of fate?

From Yone Noguchi's book Japanese Hokkus for Haiku Bones

Full of faults, you say.
What beauty in repentance!
Tears, songs . . . thus life flows

From Yone Noguchi's book Japanese Hokkus for Haiku Bones