Red-winged blackbirds warn,
trilling shrill they guard fledglings
Beaks strafe my gray head!
Photograph by Nature’s Pics Online
Red-winged blackbirds warn,
trilling shrill they guard fledglings
Beaks strafe my gray head!
Photograph by Nature’s Pics Online
Field of bright mustard,
the moon in the east,
the sun in the west.
Yosa Buson (1716-1783) was equally esteemed as a great poet and painter. Initially I misread one of my favorites as saying ‘moon in the west’ and ‘sun in the east.’ I thought his bright yellow field was illuminated by moonset and sunrise. Buson actually described the field beneath a sunset in the west and a moonrise in the east; equally ethereal and otherworldly. I’ve seen both phenomena but not the field of mustard plants in glorious bloom. Until now.
Light emanates from all three—the mustard flowers, the moon, and the sun—and paints an inimitable image unlikely photographed anywhere. Nevertheless Buson painted with words and thus elicited such a moment. I was unable to find a photograph to illustrate its splendor, obviously. These two great lights trading their soft brilliance on opposite horizons and revealing the self-glowing, allegorical mustard seed are painted with a palette of words.
Haiku translated by Robert Hass, The Essential HAIKU: Versions of Bashō, Buson & Issa, HarperCollins, 1994
Photograph found @ Pixabay
What strange whispering
—in Spring heat, pine cones popping—
softly staccato
Photo courtesy of John Haslam @ Wikimedia Commons
Marina in May
Boat slips fill with white ship sails
Gulls complain and cry
Photo courtesy of Peter H @ Pixabay
Browns and greys ground us
—Buds gently open skyward—
Greens pique the palette
Photo courtesy of Ann-Christine @ LEYA https://lagottocattleya.wordpress.com/
We adjust our clocks
—Earth tilts away right on time—
Daffodils don’t rush
Photograph courtesy of Rebecca Budd aka Clanmother
I encourage you to visit her beautiful photos @ https://www.flickr.com/people/followclanmother/
Wary elders tread
probing pavement with their canes
Spring melt? or black ice!
Photo attribution: Tembela Bohle @ Pexels
Spring mud aroma
Rust and rot, sour, salty, sweet
Kids’ boots stuck in muck
Photo by Ann-Christine @ https://lagottocattleya.wordpress.com/2021/03/04/thursday-thoughts-outdoors-varvinter/
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