Summer Nights

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #53 Renga With Basho #10 “summer’s night”

summer’s night
the tree spirit follows in
the sound of wooden shoes 

moonlight travels across the pond
softly kissing the ripples

a bamboo shoot
when I was a child it was
fun to sketch 

words mingling with ink
with time journal growing fat

rice paddy sparrows
shelter in the tea plants
when chased away

hiding briefly like my muse
only coaxed with silent wait

clapping my hands
the echo as it dawns
of a summer moon

brightness of the distant stars
becoming a bold chorus

day after day
barley ripens
a singing skylark

lying in the tall grass
lazily watching the clouds

begonia flowers
blooming in the colors
of a watermelon

caressed with summers warmth
hard to capture on my page

 

© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold, taken from “Basho, the complete haiku”)