Wednesday, September 07, 2016

Issa Spring Haiku

even the turtle
wants feathers...
the geese depart


- Issa 1820

.すつぽんも羽ほしげ也帰る雁
suppon mo hane hoshige nari kae[ru] kari


Shinji Ogawa points out that kaeru in this context can be translated as "return" or "leave." Since this is a spring haiku, the wild geese are leaving Japan (i.e., returning to northern lands).

http://haikuguy.com/issa/

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