Two Haiku

A bee

staggers out

of the peony.

Matsuo Basho

The summer night

so brief, so brief! 

people and blossoms agree

Kobayashi Issa

I love how both of these poems express a single moment-- a feeling.  The first one, about the bee staggering from the peony struck me particularly because I can picture it so perfectly.  Despite the fact that he doesn’t even mention color, or anything like that, in my mind I can see a flush pink peony and the pollen coating the bee’s tiny legs.  

Honestly, I picked the second one because it reminded me of myself and my own experiences.  I understand the words as individuals more than the meaning of the entire poem.  Summer nights are some of the most poetic things, I think.  This poem expresses that.  The soft brief dark.