Praying Mantis,
You funny green fellow,
Indeed with a real equilateral mask.

TOUROU no Kao wa Tukuzuku Masankaku

"TOUROU", means "Kamakiri", a "Praying Mantis".
One autumn morning,in 1991,
I was in the backyard doing the washing,
There on top of a heap of washed clothes,
A Fat Green Mantis flew down.
Startled ,I picked it up , it clung to my finger,
I looked at it, it stared at me, I stared at it.

And O! A happy laughter arose from me.

The Face was ,Indeed, a Green Equilateral Triangle.
It was a praying mantis sent from Heaven to make me laugh ,
A weak and depressed person after a head operation.

We parted in the breez
like feathery spikes of dandelions

my sorrow
floated lightly like two oranges
in the frangrant bath, the longest night will be over

You see? tulip buds are the hands of angels praying.

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A dragon fly knocks at the Vacant House,
Are you the soul of Mother,
passed away this morning ?

---

Baby spring,
chilly yet,
Delicious steam in a happy China Town.

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