Showing posts with label Narrow Road to the Interior. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Narrow Road to the Interior. Show all posts

Monday, July 14, 2008

Wine Berries

Ripening wine berries, my hill, this summer evening.

Even these long days
are not nearly long enough
for the skylark's song.

The haiku is by Matsuo Basho, translated by Sam Hamill, from Narrow Road to the Interior. Hamill says that Basho "wrote from within the body; his poems are full of breath and sound as well as images and allusions." That's why these poems still seem so alive -- quivering -- even though Basho lived from 1644-1694.

Photo taken at 5:23 PM, 7/14/08.