Spring tanka challenge

[Saionji Shonagon]

If muses were real
Surely I would have something
To write about now.
Lightning does not always strike:
The point is to try to write.

[Deleted]

A new sun rises,
waking us from our short sleep.
So much yesterday,
still more today, to get done.
Spring mornings brim with promise.

[Please Delete]

(I've been remiss in posting these here, rather than just on Facebook)

April 14
In this dew drop world
Reflections of our desires
Blind us to the truth:
The images we perceive
Are but our own creations.

April 13
What worth shall we lay
On a single human life
In this dew drop world?
In others it may be cheap
Yet our own is everything.

April 12
No more poetry!
Not this evening anyway.
No energy left.
Scribble scrawl, and scribble scrawl
Is all I can come up with.

April 11
Freezing winter winds
Start melting, throughout the day,
In the summer sun.
One night blankets aren't enough
One night later--obsolete.

April 10
Along ancient paths
I am led up the mountain
By those before me;
I take an obligation
To help show others the Way

April 9
The cherry blossoms
Have already cone and gone
And yet the snow falls;
Next will come the cry of deer
Mixed with the cicadas' hum.

April 8
In the early spring
The entire land is covered
In a sea of green.
Even crustacean worms
Cannot stand against the tide.

April 7
The heavy downpour
Turns the roads into rivers
And carts into boats;
The early morning commute
Is more like an armada.

April 6
Waiting in darkness
For the great gates to open
And begin the day;
If only I had dallied,
Arriving after they'd closed.

April 5
Freezing winter winds
Steal away the summer heat
Despite blazing sun.
What earthly turmoil could put
The heavens in disorder?

April 4
In and out I slip,
Still attempting to resist
The tempting darkness.
Now I write the final words
And slip into that warm stream.

[Saionji Shonagon]

The wind's sudden shift
Rattles windows and whips at
Newly green branches.
I shiver despite my coat
As I rush toward the house.

[Deleted]

This day, like others,
began before the sun rose.
Tomorrow will be
much the same for all of that.
Don't ask me about Sunday.

[Please Delete]

April 15

Birds fly through water
While the fish swim through the air
Passing each other
Ships sail through the frozen sands
How amazing is the world!

[Saionji Shonagon]

I dreamed of that path
Along a river pink with
A rain of petals.
Though I walked it in autumn
I would see it in springtime.

[Deleted]

This warm afternoon
I spent some time braiding while
seated on the roof
of our King and Queen's castle.
The SCA wins again.

[Saionji Shonagon]

Heavy hearted, I watch
Landslides, collapsed buildings and
Those frightened faces.
Kumamoto is shaken:
What can I do to help them?

[Deleted]

Quite a lot of work,
but the lumber shed is built,
and now I can move
lumber out of the garage,
and get to my tools, and work.

[Saionji Shonagon]

A morning's errands
Result in tea, new books
And some art supplies.
So much productivity
Was rewarded with a nap.

[Ki no Kotori]

In my fevered dreams
A lovely voice was singing
Songs of the sea-born
But where are the crashing waves
In this far in-land prairie?

[Deleted]

Sometimes, I sit at
my desk at work all day and
accomplish nothing.
Got to do this job
or summer will be stressful.

[Ki no Kotori]

Give me a needle
To stitch these words together
In tattered pieces
These fractured phrases falling
Into some sort of order

[Saionji Shonagon]

The calendar lies!
It feels more like high summer
Than springtime to me.
Windows thrown open to tempt
A stray breeze, I sip cold tea.