Autumn tanka challenge

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Early, one might say,
for poetry and other
creative thinking,
but in the quiet morning
words slide easily to page.

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Day 11:

Discussing the Way,
Giving form to the formless,
Defeats the purpose;
Thus we talk, without meaning,
In arrogant metaphor.

[akikonomu]

A cold wind blows down
Through the high mountain passes
Stripping leaves from trees,
painting the morning air with
swirling golden polka dots.

[Saionji Shonagon]

Someone placed them here,
Each tree and plant, each old stone
Now bedecked with moss.
As we admire the effect
A garden requires hard work.

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Day 12:

Freshly opened eyes
Strain through the morning darkness
Blanketing the world;
And yet the Suzaku gate
Would already have been shut.

During the Nara Period, before the invention of modern lights, officials would arrive at the palace to start work around 4am, gathering outside the giant gates, which only opened long enough to get everyone who was waiting inside. If you didn't arrive on time, you could find yourself locked out. Officials were then supposed to work until noon, though they often worked much later, with no concept of "overtime". This ensures you used natural light to its fullest. Lying I'm bed until the sun was up was a luxury people couldn't afford.

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Sometimes I wake so
early in the morning, and
am getting so much
done, that I wind up being
late for my actual work.

[Saionji Shonagon]

Cranes may be icons
Of good fortune, but I saw
Silver clad herons.
They watched me from riverbed
And garden, like tall shadows.

Day 1, Jingumichi bridge.

Day 2, Ujigawa.

Day 3, roof of Sanjusangendo.

Day 4, Oi River, Arashiyama.

Day 5, garden at Heian Jingu shrine.

The daily heron-sighting streak broke at this point, then resumed on the canal in Fushimi on Day 11.

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For two months I made
a new painting every day,
and now I spend time
wetting each and drying it
flat so that it can be seen.

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13日：

Head heavy with sleep
And eyelids like iron doors
Cause the world to blur.
Every evening, hour by hour
The battle on sleep is waged.

[Saionji Shonagon]

Pausing to catch breath
I am suddenly alone
With the mountainside.
So many gates, limned in light,
Leading eye and spirit on.

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All day the wind blows.
Morning 'til evening it howls.
Behind clouds sun shines,
but little joy reaches down.
Winter is truly coming.

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14日:

Flocks of birds take wing
As turbulent autumn winds
Scour the painted sky;
Light dances across the clouds
In bright illumination.

[Saionji Shonagon]

Silently they wait
In a corner for the hands
That will make them sing.
In my mind I already
Hear the music of heaven.

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Changing autumn leaves
In the amber gold sunlight
Glisten brilliantly;
The cold warmth of fall color
Shining in the afternoon

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In this corner I
sit, and I can hear people
teaching, working, and
talking while I paint, and watch,
and draw this world together.