Motionless
in a crevice of an old wall -
a pregnant spider
(Shiki)
Heat in waves -
in the stones
angry reverberations
(Kyotai)
Sudden shower
and rising from the heat,
the broken-down horse
(Kito)
Lightning!
fleeing up the wall,
the legs of a spider
(Kicho)
Sudden shower -
clutching the blades of grass
a flock of sparrows
(Buson)
Down a paulownia tree
the rain comes trickling
across a cicada's belly
(Baishitsu)
The tree frog
riding the plantain leaf
sways
(Kikaku)
"It's much too long a day,"
opening its mouth
a crow
(Issa)
The above haiku are excerpted from a book by Stephen Addss, Fumiko Yamamoto & Akira Yamamoto. For a review of this fabulous collection of poetry, click here: Review: Haiku, An Anthology of Japanese Poems.
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