Flowers of Zen
Browse Works
Additional Information
This piece sets flower haiku by the Japanese poet, Bashō, beautifully translated by Lucien Stryk.
Text:
Haiku poems of Bashō
Translated by Lucien Stryk
Come see
real flowers
of this painful world
Violets -
how precious on
a mountain path
Peony –
the bee can’t bear
to part
Orchid - breathing
incense into
butterfly’s wings
Travel-weary,
I seek lodging –
ah, wistaria
Rain-washed
camellia - as it
falls, showers
Irises blooming
from my feet -
sandals laced in blue
Morning-glory -
it, too,
turns from me
However close I look,
not a speck on
white chrysanthemum
Town merchants,
who will buy this hat
lacquered with snow?
© Lucian Stryk, 1985 –
by kind permission of Helen Stryk