Matsuo Basho: English translations of Haiku about Life 1
Matsuo Basho: English translations of haiku about clouds, geese, departing, empty nests and huts, lonely, loneliness, drinking alone, sake, longing, loss, death, hawks, the moon, Japanese culture.
As clouds drift apart,
so we two separate:
wild geese departing.
—Matsuo Basho, translation by Michael R. Burch
The old nest deserted,
how empty now
my next-door neighbor’s hut.
—Matsuo Basho, translation by Michael R. Burch
Yesterday?
Departed,
like the blowfish soup.
—Matsuo Basho, translation by Michael R. Burch
Exciting,
but with a sad conclusion:
cormorant fishing.
—Matsuo Basho, translation by Michael R. Burch
The one who died:
her delicate kimono
hung out to dry.
—Matsuo Basho, translation by Michael R. Burch
Behind the veiling curtain,
the wife in her bedchamber:
plum blossoms.
—Matsuo Basho, translation by Michael R. Burch
See her slim figure:
the ingenue moon
not yet ripened.
—Matsuo Basho, translation by Michael R. Burch
Clouds now and then
offer intermissions
from moon-viewing.
—Matsuo Basho, translation by Michael R. Burch
Drinking
alone with the moon,
my shadow makes three.
—Matsuo Basho, translation by Michael R. Burch
The moon and the blossoms
lack only a man
drinking sake, alone.
—Matsuo Basho, translation by Michael R. Burch
Unbar the door,
allow moonlight
to enter Ukimido.
—Matsuo Basho, translation by Michael R. Burch
Drinking morning tea,
the monks
silent amid chrysanthemums.
—Matsuo Basho, translation by Michael R. Burch
Its fragrance whiter
than the peach blossoms’ whiteness:
the narcissus.
—Matsuo Basho, translation by Michael R. Burch
The narcissus
reflects the whiteness
of a paper screen.
—Matsuo Basho, translation by Michael R. Burch
Hibiscus flowers
garland
an otherwise naked child.
—Matsuo Basho, translation by Michael R. Burch
The overproud
pink begonia
thinks it’s a watermelon.
—Matsuo Basho, translation by Michael R. Burch
Echo my lonesomeness,
mountain cuckoo.
—Matsuo Basho, translation by Michael R. Burch
The cuckoo’s lone voice
lingers
over the inlet.
—Matsuo Basho, translation by Michael R. Burch
Solitary hawk,
a heavenly vision
over Cape Irago.
—Matsuo Basho, translation by Michael R. Burch
At Cape Irago
the incomparable cry
of the hawk.
—Matsuo Basho, translation by Michael R. Burch
Better than any dream,
the thrilling reality
of a hawk’s cry.
—Matsuo Basho, translation by Michael R. Burch
The hawk’s eye
narrows
at the quail’s call.
—Matsuo Basho, translation by Michael R. Burch
Copyright ©
Michael Burch
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