Bashō Updates His Haiku

by Michael Dylan Welch

#new #pond . . .

the #frog #jumps in

#sound of #water

Originally written 20 March 2015 and posted to Facebook on this date, but with “old” instead of “new.” Of course, long before me, Ryōkan (1758–1832) updated this poem’s antecedent much more closely in time to Bashō (1644–1694). Here is Ryōkan's slightly depressing or perhaps cynical variation, as translated by William Scott Wilson and Kazuaki Tanahashi:       +

A new pond, New pond.

        a frog jumps in; No sound of a frog

    no sound at all. jumping in.