the road runs straight and I am lonely
massugu na michi de samishii
Early Shōwa era · On the begging road
Sōmokutō · The Begging Bowl (Hachi no ko)
Wake to this poem.
Santōka Alarm is an iOS app that wakes you each morning with a single poem.
Set a poem you love as your alarm.
iOS 26+
A poem of barely ten syllables. A single straight road — nothing to turn from, no way to lose oneself — is for that very reason lonely. The quiet solitude of a moment when life's destination lies plainly in view, sealed in words as short as words can be.