Saigyo poetry

In reaped fields
where quail cry,
rice stubble puts up new shoots,
rays of a crescent moon
lighting them dimly

Poem by the twelfth century Japanese poet, Saigyo. Saigyo was born into a warrior family, but in his early twenties ordained as a proest. He lived much of his time alone in the mountains. His poetry reflects the landscape of the universal, mirrored in the natural world.

Saigyo's hut

Snow

This light white morning
Snow muffled in the garden trees
Squirrel shakes the fir fronds
Black crows cluttering the sky
Call the pink dawn to account

Four-year-old's late-night drive

from BBC NEWS
A boy of four drove his mother's car on a late-night trip to a video shop in the US state of Michigan, police say. Although too small to reach the accelerator, he put the car in gear and the idling engine took him to the shut shop, 400m (437yds) away in Sand Lake. On its return journey the car's weaving attracted a policeman - who followed the apparently driverless vehicle. The youngster hit two parked cars and reversed into the police car before he was stopped.The unnamed boy had been driving without headlights. He will not face charges. The policeman who discovered exactly who was behind the wheel, Sgt Jay Osga, said: 'He knew how to go from forward to reverse,' Sgt Osga said. The mother said she taught him how to drive while he was sitting on her lap. No charges will be brought against the boy or his mother for Friday's incident. 'He's four-years-old. His mom didn't even know he was up,' Sand Lake police chief Doug Heugel told The Grand Rapids Press newspaper. 'I don't think he even realises what he did.'