(I really like this one, by the way. Gorgeous illustrations, numbers for Miss R to say and find, and hey! I love Japanese gardens. If I didn't already have about two tons too many books, I'd want to own this one.)
Miss M used this one, which was compiled haiku by some Japanese poets, to pick her poem for our Japan unit. Here is her poem page:
I haven't written my Japan poem yet, but I know what it is, so will put it here. I found it, by the way, by very brilliantly and intelligently googling "famous Japanese poem". Thank Heaven google brought me this. I love it. It is Ame ni mo makezu (Be not Defeated by the Rain), by Kenji Miyazawa,
not losing to the rain
not losing to the wind
not losing to the snow nor to summer's heat
with a strong body
not fettered by desire
by no means offending anyone
always quietly smiling
every day four bowls of brown rice
miso and some vegetables to eat
in everything
count yourself last and put others before you
watching and listening, and understanding
and never forgetting
in the shade of the woods of the pines of the fields
being in a little thatched hut
if there is a sick child to the east
going and nursing over them
if there is a tired mother to the west
going and shouldering her sheaf of rice
if there is someone near death to the south
going and saying there's no need to be afraid
if there is a quarrel or a lawsuit to the north
telling them to leave off with such waste
when there's drought, shedding tears of sympathy
when the summer's cold, wandering upset
called a nobody by everyone
without being praised
without being blamed
such a person
I want to become
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