TWO HUNDRED SELECTED HAIKU -
Matsuo Basho Translated by Dr Tim Chilcott 100,101,102
Dear friends,
Wishing you a wonderful Sunday. Halfway through and beyond! I relate to 101 a lot, but not so much in “loneliness” but, the alone. And alone is not lonely. You?
100 [Autumn 1689] On the fifteenth night, just as the innkeeper had said it might, it rained meigetsu ya / hokkoku biyori / sadamenaki [bright-moon! / north-country weather / certainty nonexistent] night of the full moon... the weather in the north land so often changes 101 [Autumn 1689] sabishisa ya / suma ni kachitaru / hama no aki [loneliness! / Suma than triumph / beach's autumn] oh what loneliness .. more desolate than Suma this beach in autumn 102 [Autumn 1689] nami no ma ya / kogai ni majiru / hagi no chiri [wave's interval! / small sea-shells in mix / bush-clover's dust] between each wave-break ... mixed with small shells, the debris of bush-clover flowers
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Until next time,
Bee well,
Xanda
#100 is a masterpiece!
#101 sent me scrambling to learn understand "Suma." The term usually refers to black skipjack fish, but here it seems to refer to Suma, a specific region of Kobe (in Japan).