so is haiku hell

Kobayashi Issa

so is haiku hell

over that-a-way...

mountain cuckoo?

 

 

 

Translation by David G. Lanoue

NOTE: The prescript reads, "At Tate-yama." Tate-yama is a mountain located in the northwestern Japanese Alps. A dormant volcano, its ancient crater is called, "Hell's Valley" (jigoku tani). The bird warbles its "haiku" in "Hell."