(sent to Etsujin* at the recollection of last year’s journey)
The snow we two beheld –
Hath it come down again this year?
Matsuo Basho
* Etsujin, Basho’s favorite pupil.
Matsuo Basho (1644 – 1694) was the most famous Edo period poet and a haiku master.
To read more poems, click here.
In my dark winter lying ill
At last I ask
”How fares my neighbor”?
Matsuo Basho
Matsuo Basho (1644 – 1694) was the most famous Edo period poet and a haiku master.
To read more poems, click here.
No pretty face is to be seen
Among the group viewing the moon.
Matsuo Basho
Matsuo Basho (1644 – 1694) was the most famous Edo period poet and a haiku master.
To read more poems, click here.
The quails are chirping in the dusk
Aware the hawks’ eyes are now dim.
Matsuo Basho
Matsuo Basho (1644 – 1694) was the most famous Edo period poet and a haiku master.
To read more poems, click here.
How noble he who realizes not,
From lightning-flashes, life is wain!
Matsuo Basho
Matsuo Basho (1644 – 1694) was the most famous Edo period poet and a haiku master.
To read more poems, click here.
The chanting of the prayers fills
The field and mountain with cool air.
Mukai Kyorai
Mukai Kyorai (1651 – 1704) was a Japanese poet of the early Tokugawa period (1603–1867) and one of the first disciples of the haiku master Matsuo Bashō.
To read more poems, click here.
I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain—and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.
I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.
I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,
But not to call me back or say good-bye;
And further still at an unearthly height,
One luminary clock against the sky
Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night.
Robert Frost
Robert Frost (1874 – 1963), American poet and winner of four Pulitzer Prizes, is most known for The Road Not Taken (a poem often read the graduation ceremonies), Fire and Ice, Mending Wall, Nothing Gold Can Stay, and Home Burial.
To read more poems by Robert Frost, click here.
The moon of this night makes
All fields and mountains bald.
Hattori Ransetsu
Hattori Ransetsu (1654 – 1707) was a samurai, a haiku poet, and a follower of Matsuo Basho. He was very dedicated to Basho, and after the master’s death, he took the tonsure and became a monk.
To read more poems, click here.
’Tis the first snow! Who is likely
To stay indoors?
Takarai Kikaku
Takarai Kikaku (1661 – 1707) was a Japanese poet and among the most accomplished disciples of Matsuo Bashō.
To read more poems, click here.
We took rest on a mountain pass
Even above the soaring lark.
by Matsuo Basho
Matsuo Basho (1644 – 1694) was the most famous Edo period poet and a haiku master.
To read more poems, click here.
