Summer’s Night

summer’s night
the tree spirit follows in
the sound of wooden shoes
­                                                                      branches lace the moonlit sky
­                                                                      creaking with the weight of leaves
day after day
barley ripens
a singing skylark
­                                                                      weightless on a floating breeze
­                                                                      stew simmering in the pot
rice paddy sparrows
shelter in the tea plants
when chased away
­                                                                      cool feet below the bushes
­                                                                      hot hands pluck golden flushes
begonia flowers
blooming in the colours
of a watermelon
­                                                                      the sun rising on the tongue
­                                                                      sweetness drips from juicy lips
a bamboo shoot
when I was a child it was
fun to sketch
­                                                                      the curve of a simple leaf
­                                                                      vertical lines of a stem
clapping my hands
the echo as it dawns
of a summer moon
­                                                                      remembering mother’s face
­                                                                      and the clicking of her shoes

Basho                                                           Kim M. Russell, 7^th October 2018

My response to Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #53 Renga with Basho #10: Summer’s Night

In the first of Carpe Diem’s anniversary month of weekend meditations, we are creating a ‘Renga with Basho’ episode with a twist. We have six of Basho’s haiku,  one of which must be used as the hokku (the one which starts with ‘summer’s night’) and we decide the order of the other five . The goal is to add two-line stanzas of approximately 14 syllables to complete the renga. The closing stanza, the ageku, closes the chain by linking to the hokku. The haiku have been translated by Jane Reichhold and taken from Basho, the Complete Haiku.