Come, see the true flowers of this pained world.
MATSUO BASHOCome, see the true flowers of this pained world.
MATSUO BASHOMake the universe your companion, always bearing in mind the true nature of things-mountains and rivers, trees and grasses, and humanity-and enjoy the falling blossoms and the scattering leaves.
MATSUO BASHOWith every gust of wind, the butterfly changes its place on the willow.
MATSUO BASHONot to think of yourself / as someone who did not count — / Festival of the Souls.
MATSUO BASHOWhen composing a verse let there not be a hair’s breath separating your mind from what you write; composition of a poem must be done in an instant, like a woodcutter felling a huge tree or a swordsman leaping at a dangerous enemy.
MATSUO BASHOBetween our two lives there is also the life of the cherry blossom.
MATSUO BASHOWhen I speak My lips feel cold – The autumn wind.
MATSUO BASHOThe journey itself is my home.
MATSUO BASHOAll my friends / viewing the moon – / an ugly bunch.
MATSUO BASHOThe fact that Saigyo composed a poem that begins, “I shall be unhappy without loneliness,” shows that he made loneliness his master.
MATSUO BASHOPlunge Deep enough in order to see something that is hidden and glimmering.
MATSUO BASHOSpring rain leaking through the roof dripping from the wasps’ nest.
MATSUO BASHOWhy so scrawny, cat? Starving for fat fish or mice… Or backyard love?
MATSUO BASHOCalm and serene The sound of a cicada Penetrates the rock.
MATSUO BASHOThere 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 BASHOThe sea darkens And a wild duck s call Is faintly white.
MATSUO BASHO