Email Poem

Your IP Address: 216.73.216.246
Your Email Address:
To Email Address:
Subject
Personal Note:
Poem Title:
Poem
These are English translations of Issa haiku about the seasons: spring, summer, autumn, winter.

Autumn wind ...
She always wanted to pluck
the reddest roses
?Kobayashi Issa translation by Michael R. Burch

Issa wrote the haiku above after the death of his daughter Sato with the note: “Sato, girl, 35th day, at the grave.”

In this world where I was born
every rose hides a thorn
that pricks me to the quick.
?Kobayashi Issa translation by Michael R. Burch

Spring returns:
more excuses for foolishness
from this fool.
?Kobayashi Issa, translation by Michael R. Burch

Pretty
fresh-faced girls
multiplying like spring!
?Kobayashi Issa, translation by Michael R. Burch

These silent summer nights
even the stars
seem to whisper.
—Kobayashi Issa, translation by Michael R. Burch

Lit
by the lightning-flash:
spring snow-fall.
—Kobayashi Issa, translation by Michael R. Burch

Winter breeze:
snowflakes flutter down
like confetti.
?Kobayashi Issa, translation by Michael R. Burch

The old banner
flaps lonely and cold
in the winter thicket.
?Kobayashi Issa, translation by Michael R. Burch

If you cross it,
cross carefully and lightly:
winter ice.
?Kobayashi Issa, translation by Michael R. Burch

Safe beneath the ice,
the cat’s eyes follow
crazy fish.
?Kobayashi Issa, translation by Michael R. Burch

Steering me home
to my hut:
winter wind and rain.
?Kobayashi Issa, translation by Michael R. Burch

Teased by the winter wind,
the pig giggles
in its sleep.
?Kobayashi Issa, translation by Michael R. Burch

The winter wind
generously
sweeps my gate.
?Kobayashi Issa, translation by Michael R. Burch

Winter night:
scratching at my window,
a banished cat.
?Kobayashi Issa, translation by Michael R. Burch

Peonies blossom;
the world is full of fibbers.
?Kobayashi Issa translation by Michael R. Burch

Unaware of these degenerate times,
cherry blossoms abound!
?Kobayashi Issa translation by Michael R. Burch

Composed like the Thinker, he sits
contemplating the mountains:
the sagacious frog!
—Kobayashi Issa, translation by Michael R. Burch

Smug boss
plopped on his throne:
pompous bullfrog!
?Kobayashi Issa, translation by Michael R. Burch

Serene-faced
contemplating the stars:
Buddha-frog.
?Kobayashi Issa, translation by Michael R. Burch

Standing stone-still
for the horse to smell:
Buddha-frog.
?Kobayashi Issa, translation by Michael R. Burch

Such a racket!
Will I be your next meal,
cawing crows?
?Kobayashi Issa, translation by Michael R. Burch

Tags: winter, wind, ice, snow, frog
CAPTCHA Preview
Type the characters you see in the picture
Required