Michael Burch Poet Haiku

Fukuda Chiyo-ni haiku translations 1

Fukuda Chiyo-ni Haiku

Fukuda Chiyo-ni (1703-1775) was a Japanese poet and painter of the Edo period, also known as Kaga no Chiyo.

Because morning glories
held my well-bucket hostage
I went begging for water!
—Chiyo-ni, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Chiyo-ni wrote the next poem in calligraphy on a portrait of Matsuo Basho.

To listen, fine ...
fine also not to echo,
nightingale.
—Chiyo-ni, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

CHIYO-NI NUN & TEMPLE POEMS

After she had shaved her head, become a nun and retired from public life, she wrote:

No more
fixing my hair ...
merely warming my hands by the fire ...
—Chiyo-ni, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Auspicious straw!
Even the compost
looks glorious!
—Chiyo-ni, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

CHIYO-NI POEMS ABOUT LOSS AND LONELINESS

Coolness—
strangers meet on a bridge
late at night.
—Chiyo-ni, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Ebb-tide:
everything we stoop to collect
slips through our fingers ...
—Chiyo-ni, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Whatever ...
Leave it to the weather:
withered pampas grass.
—Chiyo-ni, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Heat waves shimmering
above the wettened rock ...
—Chiyo-ni, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Loneliness
abides within the listener:
the cuckoo’s call
—Chiyo-ni, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Skylark,
what do you make
of the trackless sky?
—Chiyo-ni, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

We stoop to pick up ebb-tide pebbles
—Chiyo-ni, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Fireflies burn
without the heat of love.
—Fukuda Chiyo-ni, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

It’s child’s play for the cranes
circling the clouds
to celebrate the sunrise
—Chiyo-ni, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Cicadas chirp
oblivious to death.
—Chiyo-ni, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Once again the women
return to the fields
with disheveled hair.
—Chiyo-ni, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

The frog inflates: monsoon soon
The frog inflates: prophet of the deluge
Thunderclouds inflating: the frog’s belly
—Chiyo-ni, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Keywords/Tags: haiku, Japan, Japanese, Basho, nightingale, echo, cuckoo, skylark, morning glories, ebb-tide, pebbles, cicadas, cranes, frog

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