Carpe Diem Tokubetsudesu #56 Choka (or Nagauta), Japanese “long poem”

 harvestmoon

harvest moon rises
shedding it’s light in the fields
farmers continue
working late in the night
with crops gathered in
celebrations to follow
corn, squash, beans and rice
offered up in thanksgiving
orange haze of the moon
filling the sky with its glow
barn dances begin
young lovers walk in moonlight
hands gently touching
bewitched by the moon goddess
their lips softly meet
music spills into the night

(envoy or hanka)

summer forsaken
wild geese echo the wind
leaves begin to turn
waning moon looses its blush
people dream of spring planting