Poems Exchanged Between Ryokan and His Brother Yoshiyuki

"I hear you play marbles with the brothel girls."

The black robed monk
Sports with
Pleasure girls-
What can be
In his heart?

---from Yoshiyuki


Sporting and sporting,
As I pass through this floating world:
Finding myself here,
Is it not good
To dispel the bad dreams of others?

---from Ryokan


Sporting and sporting
While passing through this world
Is good, perhaps,
But don't you think of
The world to come?

---from Yoshiyuki


It is in this world,
With this body
That I sport:
No need to think
About the world to come.

---from Ryokan