keith holyoak

      A dog barks
amidst the sound of water;
      peach blossoms
hang heavy with dewdrops.
 
      In the deep forest
I glimpse a passing deer;
      the rushing brook
muffles the noonday bells.
 
      Wild bamboos
slice through the green mist;
      streams in flight
hang between emerald peaks.
 
      Nobody knows
where the master has gone—
      left to wonder,
I rest among some pines.

© 2005 by Keith Holyoak (translator)
First printed in Candelabrum Poetry Magazine (2005); reprinted in Measure (2006)