After a long nap,
the cat yawns, rises, and goes out
looking for love
Give me a homeland,
and a passionate woman,
and winter alone
Brilliant moon,
is it true that you too
must pass in a hurry
Thus spring begins: old
stupidities repeated,
new errs invented
I S S A
In pale moonlight
the wisteria's scent
comes from far away
Light winter rain
like scampering rat's-feet
over my koto
In a bitter wind
a solitary monk bends
to words cut in stone
Moon in midsky, high
over the village hovels
and wandering on
B U S O N
But for a woodpecker
tapping at a post, no sound
at all in the house
I'm a wanderer
so let that be my name —
the first winter rain
Winter showers,
even the monkey searches
for a raincoat
The morning glories
bloom, securing the gate
in the old fence
B A S H O
____________________
the pocket haiku
translated by Sam Hamill
Shambhala 2014
