black
grey
blue
red
brown
white

The moon is brighter since the barn burned.

Matsuo Basho

A thicket of summer grass / Is all that remains / Of the dreams of ancient warriors.
MATSUO BASHO

Dreams Summer Warrior
Nothing in the cry of cicadas suggests they are about to die.
MATSUO BASHO

Cry Death Flower
The fact that Saigyo composed a poem that begins, “I shall be unhappy without loneliness,” shows that he made loneliness his master.
MATSUO BASHO

Beginning Lonely Master Myself Poem
The desire to break the silence with constant human noise is, I believe, precisely an avoidance of the sacred terror of that divine encounter.
MATSUO BASHO

Avoid Believe Break Desire Divine Human Myself Noise Silence Sound
Year’s end, all corners of this floating world, swept.
MATSUO BASHO

Age Float Time World
Every moment of life is the last, every poem is a death poem.
MATSUO BASHO

Death Life Moments Poem
Awakened at midnight by the sound of the water jar cracking from the ice.
MATSUO BASHO

Awake Ice Night Sound Water
Farewell, my old fan. / Having scribbled on it, / What could I do but tear it / At the end of summer?
MATSUO BASHO

End Fan Myself Old Summer
Traveler’s heart. Never settled long in one place. Like a portable fire.
MATSUO BASHO

Fire Heart Place Travel
Collecting all The rains of May The swift Mogami River.
MATSUO BASHO

Collection Rain River Water
How much I desire! Inside my little satchel, the moon, and flowers.
MATSUO BASHO

Desire Flower Moon Myself
Harvest moon: around the pond I wander and the night is gone.
MATSUO BASHO

Moon Myself Night Water
This autumn- why am I growing old? bird disappearing among clouds.
MATSUO BASHO

Autumn Disappear Growth Myself Old
At the ancient pond the frog plunges into the sound of water.
MATSUO BASHO

Pond Sound Water
I hope to have gathered To repay your kindness The willow leaves Scattered in the garden.
MATSUO BASHO

Garden Hope Kindness Pay
There came a day when the clouds drifting along with the wind aroused a wanderlust in me, and I set off on a journey to roam along the seashores
MATSUO BASHO

Day Journey Myself Sea Wind

The moon is brighter since the barn burned.

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The moon is brighter since the barn burned.

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