Butterflies – July 4, 2015

Papillons 2 – Odilon Redon at Odilon Redon The Compete Works

this flower garden
alive with bright butterflies
dancing on the wind

summer evening
the butterfly alights
on a red flower
she dreams of a man
dreaming of butterflies

© G.s.k. ‘15

This episode of CDHK is rich with both poetry by Basho and butterflies!

ran no ka ya   cho no tusubasa ni   takimono su

orchid fragrance
from the butterfly’s wings
scenting the clothes

cho no ha no   ikutabi koyuru   hei no yane

wings of a butterfly
how many times do they flutter
over roof and wall

kimi ya cho   ware ya Soji ga   yume gokoro

you are butterfly?
I am Chuang-tzu’s
dreaming heart

cho mo ki te   su wo suu kiku no   namasu kana

a butterfly also comes
to sip the vinegar from mums (*)
and pickles

‘While I was staying in Awazu, a man who liked tea ceremony very much, invited me and served vinegar boiled chrysanthemum flowers picked from a nearby beach’. He wrote this one for his host, a physician.

okiyo okiyo   waga tomo ni se n   nuru ko cho

wake up wake up
I want you for a friend
sleeping butterfly

cho no tobu   bakari nonaka no   hikage kana

a butterfly flies
only in the field
of sunshine

monozuki ya   niowa nu kasa ni   tomaru cho

how curious
on grass without fragrance
perches a butterfly

© Basho

I’d like to thank Chèvrefeuille for all the work he put into this lovely post … it’s really so rich and fantastic (Link: On The Trail With Basho Encore #7 butterflies)  here are Chèvrefeuille’s haiku to honour Basho and his Butterflies:

in the Buddleia
fluttering of fragile wings
waving on the wind

waving on the wind
butterflies resting in the sun
on the Buddleia

the cobweb scattered
by the fluttering of wings
a blue butterfly

on the veranda
a yellowish butterfly
the light of sun down

© Chèvrefeuille