For Frank Tassone’s weekly haikai challenge, three gogyohka on the theme of the cold moon. The painting is by Marianne von Werefkin. Her moon is a sun.
in this cold sky
of dark night stretching
from the receding shores
of dawn and dusk
the moon lights
how can we say the moon is cold
when stone cracks and dead things lie
when we know our own hearts?
In this wintry world of night
moonlight is the only warmth
cold the sky
cold the earth
cold the stones
where hearts should lie
not the moonlight’s silvery touch
