Japanese
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Haiku Transcreations

Matsuo Basho
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
IX
X: Last Poem

 

I
Kare-eda ni
karasu-no tomari-keri
aki-no-kure.

- 1679

II
Haru nare ya:
na-mo-naki yama-no
asa-gasumi.

- 1685

III
Kumo ori-ori
hito-ni yasumuru

tsuki-mi kana.

IV
Hatsu aki ya:
umi mo aota-no
hito midori.

- 1688

V
Furuyu-no
hajime ya oku-no
ta-ue-uta.

- 1689

VI
Natsu-gusa ya:
tsuwamono-domo-ga
yume-no-ato.

VII
Shizukasa ya:
iwa ni shimi-iru
semi-no-koe.

VIII
Aki-kaze-no
fuke-domo aoshi
kuri-no-iga.

- 1691

IX
Inazuma ya:
yami-no-kata-yuku
goi-no koe.

- 1694

X
Tabi ni yamite
yume wa kare-no wo
kake-megura.

 

 

I
On a blighted bough
a crow lights for a shakedown -
fall of autumn night.

- 1679

II
Spring, all hail!
A nameless hill
In morning-veil.

- 1685

III
Now and then the clouds
unload men of a burden -
looking at the moon.

IV
Thus begins the Fall:
the ocean and the rice-field -                both the selfsame green.

- 1688

V
So begins all art:
remote inland, a sing-song
midst the rice-planting.

- 1689

VI
Grasses summer-ripe:
the pipedreams of old warriors -
all that's left to them.

VII
How still!
A rock-drill -
The locust's shrill.

VIII
Blows the autumn wind:
behind yet stays a greenness -
husk of the chestnut.

- 1691

IX
Lightning gleam:
Into the gloom
A heron's scream.

- 1694

X: Last Poem
Travel-sickness dreams:
on drought-struck fields they still go
wandering about.

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