Be Still

A fifteenth-century poet named Hatton Ransetsu wrote a lovely haiku that I discovered quite by accident, but it speaks to me:

Pine tree silhouette
Painted by the harvest moon
On a shining sky

I have photographed such silhouettes on more than one night of my life, and the poem reminds me of what it’s like to be out there in the mostly dark, with a camera on a tripod, holding my breath, standing as still I can, listening to the silence.