A bat flits
in moonlight
above the plum blossoms.

Before the white chrysanthemum
the scissors hesitate
    a moment.

Blown from the west,
fallen leaves gather
    in the east.

Blow of an ax,
pine scent,
the winter woods.

Buying leeks
and walking home
    under the bare trees.

Calligraphy of geese
against the sky--
    the moon seals it.

Coolness--
the sound of the bell
    as it leaves the bell.

Dawn--
fish the cormorants haven't caught
swimming in the shallows.

Early summer rain--
houses facing the river,
    two of them

Evening wind:
water laps
    the heron's legs.

The winter river;
down it come floating
flowers offered to Buddha.

Harvest moon--
called at his house,
he was digging potatoes.

He's on the porch,
to escape the wife and kids--
how hot it is!

His Holiness the Abbot
is *******
in the withered fields.

Lighting one candle
with another candle--
    spring evening.

Listening to the moon,
gazing at the croaking of frogs
in a field of ripe rice.

My arm for a pillow,
I really like myself
under the hazy moon.

Not quite dark yet
and the stars shining
above the withered fields.

Old well,
a fish leaps--
    dark sound.

Ploughing the land--
not even a bird singing
in the mountain's shadow.

Sparrow singing--
its tiny mouth
    open.

Straw sandal half sunk
in an old pond
    in the sleety snow.

The behavior of the pigeon
is beyond reproach,
but the mountain cuckoo?

The end of spring--
the poet is brooding
    about editors.

The old man
cutting barley--
bent like a sickle.

The spring sea rising
and falling, rising
    and falling all day.

The willow leaves fallen,
the spring gone dry,
    rocks here and there.

They end their flight
one by one---
crows at dusk.

Below are eleven Buson haiku
beginning with the phrase
'The short night--'


The short night--
on the hairy caterpillar
beads of dew.

The short night--
patrolmen
washing in the river.

The short night--
bubbles of crab froth
among the river reeds.

The short night--
a broom thrown away
on the beach.

The short night--
the Oi River
has sunk two feet.

The short night--
on the outskirts of the village
a small shop opening.

The short night--
broken, in the shallows,
a crescent moon.

The short night--
the peony
has opened.

The short night--
waves beating in,
an abandoned fire.

The short night--
near the pillow
a screen turning silver.

The short night--
shallow footprints
on the beach at Yui.








User Submitted "The short night--" Haiku

Submit your own haiku beginning with the line
"The short night--"
and we'll post the best ones below!

Just dash off an e-mail to:

     theshortnight@plagiarist.com



The short night-
a watery moon
stands alone over the hill

     Maggie



The short night--
just as I'm falling asleep
my wife's waking up

     Larry Bole

Washing the ***--
ripples on the water;
    far off, wild ducks.

White blossoms of the pear
and a woman in moonlight
    reading a letter.