Now seen...now gone, The butterfly flits in and out Through fence-hung flowers; But a life lived so close to them I envy...though it's here and gone.

- Saigyō

Whatever it is, / I cannot understand it, / although gratitude / stubbornly overcomes me / until I'm reduced to tears.

- Saigyō

Tightly held by rocks Through winter, the ice today Begins to come undone: A way-seeker also is the water, Melting, murmuring from the moss.

- Saigyō

Every single thing changes and is changing always in this world. Yet with the same light the moon goes on shining.

- Saigyō

Limitations gone: Since my mind fixed on the moon, Clarity and serenity Make something for which There's no end in sight.

- Saigyō

This place of mine never is entered by humans come for conversation, only by the mute moon's light shafts that slip in between the trees.

- Saigyō

The cherries' only fault: the crowds that gather when they bloom

- Saigyō

I'd like to divide myself in order to see, among these mountains, each and every flower of every cherry tree.

- Saigyō