heaving up the morning earth in puffs — a mole
asa no tsuchi o mokumoku motagete moguramochi
1939–1940 · Matsuyama, Issō-an hermitage
Sōmokutō · The Crow (Karasu)
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+
The morning earth swells up in soft puffs. Beneath it a mole is at work. The stir of a life that stays unseen is conveyed, just as it is, by the word "mokumoku," the puffing up of the soil.