This weekend, I read a book of Issa’s haiku. His poems are full of humor and melancholy; apparently he had an incredibly tragic life. He does more with a few words than some people (me) do with whole pages. Here are some favorites: This world of dew is only a world of dew - and yet…

Just to say the word home, that one word alone, so pleasantly cool

As the great old trees are marked for felling, the birds build their new spring nests

The snail gets up And goes to bed With very little fuss

In my old home which I forsook, the cherries are in bloom.

For you too, my fleas, the night passes so slowly. But you won’t be lonely.

A world of trials, and if the cherry blossoms, it simply blossoms