a man for all seasons: 1911

The Rabbit leaps
The mouse outcreeps
The flag out-peeps
 Beside the brook.

The ferret weeps
The marmot sleeps
The owlet keeps
 In his snug nook.

The apples thaw
The ravens caw
The squirrels gnaw
 The frozen fruit;

To their retreat
We track the feet
Of mice that eat
 The apples root.

The willows droop
The alders stoop
The pheasants group
 Beneath the snow.

The catkins green
Cast o'er the scene
A summer sheen
 A genial glow.

The snow dust falls
The otter crawls
The partridge calls
 Far in the wood

The traveller dreams
The tree-ice gleams
The blue jay screams
 In angry mood.

Henry David Thoreau

1813

.我宿や鼠と仲のよい蛍
waga yado ya nezumi to naka no yoi hotaru

my dwelling--
mingling with the mice
pretty fireflies

issa


ASSAULT

I had forgotten how the frogs must sound
After a year of silence, else I think
I should not so have ventured forth alone
At dusk upon this unfrequented road.

I am waylaid by Beauty. Who will walk
Between me and the crying of the frogs?
Oh, savage Beauty, suffer me to pass,
That am a timid woman, on her way
From one house to another!

Edna St. Vincent Millay


(only one living bird!)

haiku by issa, translation by David G. Lanoue from here