Autumn Coolness

autumn coolness
each peeling with our hands
melons and eggplant

­                                                                     melon seeds drip from fingers
­                                                                     we lick the juice from our lips

to get wet passing by
a man is interesting
bush clover in rain

­                                                                     blinded by melancholy
­                                                                     ­he cannot see the rainbow                                                                   

a clear night
cooling myself under cherry trees
waves of flowers

­                                                                     I inhale their heady scent
­                                                                     exhale memories of you             

blossoms at their peak
the mountain the same as always
at daybreak

­                                                                     only the season has changed
­                                                                     the water keeps on flowing

with young leaves
I would like to wipe away
the tears in your eyes

­                                                                     gathering in a river
­                                                                     brimming with salt and sorrow

swinging bridge
lives are intertwined
in ivy vines

­                                                                     another harvest ripens
­                                                                     ready for autumn coolness

Matsuo Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold           Kim M. Russell, 19^th August 2018

My response to Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #46 Renga With Basho Hineri “autumn coolness”

This week’s challenge in our special feature, Carpe Diem’s Weekend Meditation, is a new version of Renga With Basho – with a twist. We have been given six haiku written by Basho in a translation by Jane Reichhold, but one of those haiku is a real ‘hokku’ used by Basho at a renga party he attended. We have to start our Renga With Basho with that real ‘hokku’.

The goal is to write two-line stanzas between the haiku and to close the chain with a ‘ageku’ that connects the last sand first stanzas. Except for the hokku, we may choose the order of haiku this Renga With Basho Hineri:

blossoms at their peak
the mountain the same as always
at daybreak

with young leaves
I would like to wipe away
the tears in your eyes

swinging bridge
lives are intertwined
in ivy vines

autumn coolness
each peeling with our hands
melons and eggplant

a clear night
cooling myself under cherry trees
waves of flowers

to get wet passing by
a man is interesting
bush clover in rain

 © Matsuo Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold; taken from “Basho, The Complete Haiku”