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Gleanings

The volcano of Asama!
Multitudinous white naked children
Ascend to heaven
Amidst the smoke.

The volcano of Asama!
The stillness of the violent thing!
The whirl of the platinum flame
Moves not even slightly.

The flames of Asama
Neither approach nor recede.
The path of the determined soul
Is single and straight.

On a day when the pond of Kumoba
Is shrouded in the rain,
The white birch trees
Seem as pure as nuns.

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