Four haiku by Basho

Autumn –
Even the birds
and clouds look old.

Year’s end,
all corners
of this floating world, swept.

Cormorant fishing:
how stirring,
how saddening.

Not last night,
not this morning;
melon flowers bloomed.

Haiku taken from Zen, a beautifully illustrated book of Zen writings.

Haiku is a minimalist form of only seventeen syllables. Like koans, they give an insight.

An excellent guide to the work of Japanese Zen master and poet Basho (1644-1894) is A Zen Wave by Robert Aitkin.

For Sian to whom I read these four haiku one evening.

Tags: Basho, contemplation, haiku, meditation, poetry, Zen