by Alice Quinn
More haiku by Yosa Buson (1716-1783):
Swallows are wakened at night
in a hut someone
is beating at a snake*
Old doll reminds me
how my love used to hide
her face in her sleeve*
Pear trees in flower
a woman reads a letter
by moonlight
(From Collected Haiku of Yosa Buson, Translated by W.S. Merwin and Takako Lento. Copyright © 2013 by W.S. Merwin and Takako U. Lento. Used by permission of The Wylie Agency, LLC. All rights reserved. Photo by Oleg Shpyrko)