Matsuo Basho Haiku Poems

Matsuo Basho Haiku Poems

Awake at night

Awake at night--

the sound of the water jar

cracking in the cold.

-Transalation made by Robert Hass 

Autumn moonlight

Autumn moonlight--

a worm digs silently

into the chestnut.

-Transalation made by Robert Hass 

As they begin to rise again

Chrysanthemums faintly smell,

After the flooding rain 

-Matsuo Basho

Wild Sea

A wild sea-

In the distance over Sado

The Milky Way 

A weathered skeleton

A weathered skeleton 

in windy fields of memory, 

piercing like a knife 

Strange Flower

a strange flower

for birds and butterflies

the autumn sky

Snowy Morning

A snowy morning--

by myself,

chewing on dried salmon.

-Transalation made by Robert Hass

Kori nigaku enso ga nodo o uruoseri 

Bitter–tasting ice — 

Just enough to wet the throat 

Of a sewer rat.

A monk sips morning tea,

it's quiet,

the chrysanthemum's flowering

-Transalation made by Robert Hass 

A man, infirm

With age, slowly sucks

A fish bone.

-Basho

Cold Rain

A cold rain starting

And no hat --

So?

At a hermitage:

A cool fall night--

getting dinner, we peeled

eggplants, cucumbers.

Transalation made by Robert Hass

Cuckoo Cries

a cuckoo cries

and through a thicket of bamboo

the late moon shines 

Field Of Cotton

A field of cotton--

as if the moon

had flowered.

Transalation made by Robert Hass 

A cicada shell

A cicada shell;

it sang itself

utterly away.

Transalation made by R.H. Blyth 

A caterpillar

A caterpillar,

this deep in fall--

still not a butterfly.

Transalation made by Robert Hass 

A bee

A bee

staggers out

of the peony.

Transalation made by Robert Hass

A Ball of Snow

you make the fire

and I’ll show you something wonderful:

a big ball of snow!

Sick on my journey, 

only my dreams will wander 

these desolate moors

Matsuo Basho Haiku Poems