Hototogisu
O-takeyabu wo
Mom tsukiyo.
—Basho
Hear the sweet cuckoo.
Through the big-bamboo thicket
The full moon filters.
Does the grove of big-bamboo filter the song of the bird, or the
moonlight, or both? This haiku like many others may have
several meanings. The verb moru, generally translated “ leak,” has
the additional meanings of “ filter ” and “ trickle.”