Category: Kobayashi Issa 小林 一茶

Short night —scarlet flowerat vine’s tip.

Farmer,pointing the waywith a radish.

Where there are humansyou’ll find flies,and Buddhas.

Flies swarming —what do they want ofthese wrinkled hands?

Cuckoo singsto me, to the mountain,in turn.

Don’t weep, insects —lovers, stars themselves,must part.

Listen,all creeping things —the bell of transience.

Owls are calling,“Come, come,”to the fireflies.

Cherry blossoms?In these partsgrass also blooms. Issa was among the first haiku poets to insist, at timesironically, that beauty can be found in anything.