is my mind elsewhere
or has it simply not sung?
hototogisu
in the Yoshiwara
the way of the warrior
cannot conquer
I have gazed at it now
for two years too long -
the moon of the
floating world
"I love you"
such brief words, yet how hard
to
say them!
- tr. Makoto Ueda
Making up a quarrel,
Apparently ashamed
To be the first to smile.
- tr. R. H. Blyth
I've turned my back
on Buddha
how cool the moon!
I'm trying to sleep
go easy
when you swat flies
a paper kimono
shows the guts of
haikai!
how much longer
is my life?
a brief night...
tell them
I was a persimmon eater
who liked haiku
Buddha-death:
the moonflowers's face
the snake gourd's fart
You are burnt out, but luckily
before the cherry-flowers bloom
Watching you get up,
I slide into the warm space
that you leave
behind
haikai no / sode mo basho mo / kareno kana
Both the haikai
sleeve and the plantain withered in the field
in my hut this spring,
there is nothing -
there is everything
a plum scented wind
in the land of haikai
blows triumphant
"even for the likes of us
this is the spring of the
age" - Basho
however low one may be
it is in holding oneself in sway
that is
imperative
passing through the world
indeed this is just
a shelter from the
shower
everything that was
has vanished from my aged heart
leaving not
a trasce
life
is like a butterfly
whatever it is
I close my eye
and bask in the warmth of love
that is long past
- tr. Makoto Ueda
even at the time
when my father lay dying
I still kept farting
Hazy moonlight night:
there must be love for
unlikely faces too.
- tr. Makoto Ueda
see how it hovers
in these streets of yellow fog
a human shadow
snuffing a candle
her expression
... changes
hottest night
naked on the bed
apart together
Too quick to reply
cutting my tongue
on the envelope
