wet with tears

I cannot speak of

Yudono, but see how wet

My sleeve is with tears.

                                        ~Basho*

 spring rain

*cited:

The Narrow Road to Oku

Trans: D Keene

3 thoughts on “wet with tears”

    1. Thank you…within “The Narrow Road to Oku” Basho wrote that it was “forbidden by the rule of the ascetics’ order to disclose detains of this mountain to other people.” I wonder if the tears were not of sadness but from the joy that arises when we witness beauty.

Comments are closed.