Matsuo Basho: English translations of haiku about Winter 1

Matsuo Basho: English translations of haiku about winter, snow, snowball, home, fire, children, fun, frost, hail, fish, ice fishing. The year’s first snowfall; such happiness to be at home in my hut. —Matsuo Basho, translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Fire-making friend, let me show you something grand: a huge snowball! —Matsuo Basho, translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Written for Basho’s dear friend Sora, who visited Basho’s hut to feed the fire, cook, break ice and make tea. Come, children, let’s frolic in the snowstorm, dodge the hail. —Matsuo Basho, translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Farewell for now, we’re off to find snow until we tumble into it. —Matsuo Basho, translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Let’s get up until we fall into the snow we seek. —Matsuo Basho, translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Yesteryear’s snows, have they fallen anew? —Matsuo Basho, translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Winter drizzle; irate, I await snow adorning the pines. —Matsuo Basho, translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Practicing bowing, the bamboo anticipates snow. —Matsuo Basho, translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Bowing low, the upside-down world of snow-laden bamboo. —Matsuo Basho, translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Melancholic flowers shrivel in the frost. —Matsuo Basho, translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Hailstones stitching the silken snow. —Matsuo Basho, translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Oars slapping waves, the stomach a-shiver, these nighttime tears. —Matsuo Basho, translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Icefish shoaling through seaweed swim into my hands. —Matsuo Basho, translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Sunrise: one-inch sliver of the whitefish’s iciness. —Matsuo Basho, translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Somehow alive yet congealed into a single solid mass: the frozen sea cucumbers. —Matsuo Basho, translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Water so cold, rocks so hard, where will the seagull sleep? —Matsuo Basho, translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Plovers depart as evening deepens windward toward Hiei. —Matsuo Basho, translation by Michael R. Burch Crying in the darkness, unable to locate its nest, the homeless plover. —Matsuo Basho, translation by Michael R. Burch The plovers cry: “Be watchful of the darkness at Star Cape!” —Matsuo Basho, translation by Michael R. Burch