basho

Songs of
Cherry Blossoms Falling

by Basho

edited by Raymond Soulard, Jr.
& Kassandra Kramer

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Songs of
Cherry Blossoms Falling

by Basho

edited by Raymond Soulard, Jr.
& Kassandra Kramer

Number Thirty-six

Songs of Cherry Blossoms Falling

(circa A.D.1 667- 1694)
by Basho

Burning Man Books is

an imprint of

Scriptor Press

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Seattle, Washington 98107

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This volume was composed
in the AGaramond font
in PageMaker 7.0 on the
Macintosh G4 computer

Open out to these songs.
Let their music prime life's mysteries.

Autumn moonlight

a worm digs silently

into a chestnut

The oak tree:

not interested

in cherry blossoms

A bee
staggers out
of the peony

Songs of Cherry Blossoms Falling

Midfield
attached to nothing
the skylark singing

It's not like anything

they compare it to —

the summer moon

A cicada shell
it sang itself
utterly away

BashO

First snow

falling

on the half-finished bridge

The morning glory also

turns out

not to be my friend

All this foolishness
about moons and blossoms
pricked by the cold's needle

Songs of Cherry Blossoms Falling

The beginning of art—
a rice-planting song
in the backcountry

The spring we don't see —

on the back of a hand mirror

a plum tree in flower

Winter solitude —

in a world of one color

the sound of wind

8 • BashO

You could turn this way,

I'm also lonely

this autumn evening

Summer grasses . . .

traces of dreams
of ancient warriors

The sea darkens —

the voices of the wild ducks

are faintly white

Songs of Cherry Blossoms Falling • 9

I still want to see

in blossoms at dawn the face

of the mountain god

The bush warbler

in a grove of bamboo sprouts

sings of growing old

All day long, singing,

yet the day's not long enough

for the skylark's song

10 • Basho

A weathered temple,

blossoming peach, and, hulling rice,

just one old man

Weather-beaten bones,

I'll leave your heart exposed

to cold, piercing winds

Things beyond number

all somehow called to mind by

blossoming cherries

Songs of Cherry Blossoms Falling

11

If my voice was good,

I'd sing a song of cherry

blossoms falling

The wandering crow

finds only plum blossoms

where its nest had been

The moon disappears

into darkening treetops

collecting the rain

12 • Basho

A harvest moon,

and creeping up to my gate,

the rising tide

Drinking sake

brings on insomnia —

it snowed all night

The cry of the dove

penetrates even the stone

door of this dark cave

Songs of Cherry Blossoms Falling

13

In the old cow barn,
dusky sounds of mosquitoes-
summer heat lingers on

A winter garden —

the moon also a thread,

like the insect's song

On the coldest night,

we two sleeping together —

how comfortable!

14 • Basho

With clear melting dew,

I'd try to wash away the dust

of this floating world

For today only,

we'll grow old together in

the first winter rain

Freshly reburnished,

the temple mirror is clear —

blossoming snowflakes

Songs of Cherry Blossoms Falling

15

The whole household —
each with white hair and cane-
visiting a grave

Even the whitefish

opens black eyes to the law

of Buddha's net

Sick on my journey

only my dreams will wander

these desolate moors

16 • Basho