215Haiku 俳句
行く春や鳥啼き魚の目は泪
ゆくはるやとりなきうおのめはなみだYuku haru ya tori naki uo no me wa namida
“Departing spring — birds cry, and there are tears in the eyes of fish.”
The meaning
At the moment of leaving, everything seems to mourn the departure. Farewells tint the whole world; the poem accepts it without shame — attachment is human.
At the origin
Composed at the start of Bashō's great journey north (1689).
The characters
- 行く yukudeparting
- 春 haruspring
- や yacutting word
- 鳥
- 啼き
- 魚
- の
- 目
- は
- 泪
やParticle“And” of an open list: among others. In a haiku it is the cut — a silence that parts the verse.
In practice
At the next farewell, make room for the feeling: it honors what was.