I rather like this one…
wearily she waves
the white flag of surrender
cobwebbed butterfly
—Tracy Davidson from here
Pawprints fade, empty
Silence fills the empty space
Love lives on, always
From here
I sometimes feel that the classic haiku are let down by some translations, and the fact there are Japanese words that don’t translate across very well or at all.
I have a soft spot for this one
The old pond,
A frog jumps in:
Plop!
Translated by Alan Watts from here
It’s interesting to see how each translation differs, and tries to put into English something that is probably untranslatable…also…
pond
frog
plop!
Translated by James Kirkup
‘The sound of water’ ‘kerplunk’ ‘splashing the water’ ‘leap, splash’ ‘water note’ …just don’t capture it for me
Do you know any that are decent?
