I am the blossom pressed in a book,
found again after two hundred years. . . .
I am the maker, the lover, and the keeper. . . .
When the young girl who starves
sits down to a table
she will sit beside me. . . .
I am food on the prisoner's plate. . . .
......
Following are several translations
of the 'Old Pond' poem, which may be
the most famous of all haiku:
Furuike ya
kawazu tobikomu
mizu no oto
- Basho
......
I do not ask for youth, nor for delay
in the rising of time's irreversible river
that takes the jewelled arc of the waterfall
in which I glimpse, minute by glinting minute,
all that I have and all I am always losing
as sunlight lights each drop fast, fast falling.
I do not dream that you, young again,
might come to me darkly in love's green darkness
where the dust of the bracken spices the air
......
Can Earth be Earth when all its trees are gone,
And sudsy waters have become unfit,
And poisoned life no longer greets the dawn
With raucous sounds that death has caused to quit?
Will trees no longer wave, with limbs unfurled,
On hapless Earth, that e'er in orbit roams?
Will human ego sacrifice the world
To satiate its lust for pompous homes?
Will distant Space look down on orb that's bald
And ask, "Wise Poet, can you name that sphere?
......
You may talk o' gin and beer
When you're quartered safe out 'ere,
An' you're sent to penny-fights an' Aldershot it;
But when it comes to slaughter
You will do your work on water,
An' you'll lick the bloomin' boots of 'im that's got it.
Now in Injia's sunny clime,
Where I used to spend my time
A-servin' of 'Er Majesty the Queen,
Of all them blackfaced crew
......
She sells sea shells
By the sea shore
Where the mermaids dance
Behind the green glass door
She shouts she yells
By the sea shore
And the waves, they echo
a resounding roar
......
Walk into the room
hear the drop fall
you look so nice; I look so dull
but people use you as people use me
when I’m stuck with you, I cannot breathe
please go away
you haunt me at night and mock me at day
I can’t get rid of you
Am I hallucinating?
No matter how hard I turn off the tap,
......
A little drop of water
Evoke imagine of the creatures
A little drop of water
Refresh trees branches
A little drop of water
The Elegant Beauty of the nature
A little drop of water
Splendour blooms of the flowers
A little drop of water
Express the feelings of the writers
......
Amidst a clear, warm night
I find myself falling into an ocean
Floating and bearing witness to the relationship
Between the Earth and the Moon.
A rivalry, moreover, a friendship, as old as time:
The moon teasing her older sister
Tugging and poking the Earth’s overflowing bodies of water
And the Earth, pulling back, not allowing the Moon to disturb her slumber.
......
In the fragrant noonday heat,
Sunshine poured on meadowsweet,
And rivers and lakes sparkled,
All while rose finches warbled,
From azure sky and green trees,
And sunshine burnished cities,
In the fragrant noonday heat.