1 haiku (#8711) out of 10000
1804
.灰汁桶の蝶のきげんや木下闇
aku oke no chô no kigen ya ko shita yami
round the lye bucket
a happy butterfly...
deep tree shade
Japanese lye is made from an astringent sap. In my first translation, I had the butterfly stuck in the lye. Shinji Ogawa doubts this. He writes, "Judging from the tone of the haiku, the butterfly is not yet in the lye bucket but flying about it. The phrase, chô no kigen, means 'the happy mood of the butterfly'."
For now, the butterfly is happy, flirting with the danger below.
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All translations © 1991-2010 by David G. Lanoue, rights reserved.