Two poems to celebrate the spring peonies (yep, those are mine on my desktop) I love so much.
"Had I but four square feet of ground at my disposal, I would plant a peony in the corner and proceed to worship."
–Alice Harding
後の世の
寝所にせん
ぼたん哉
一茶
The Haiku above by Issa.
A note about Issa:
He was born in 1763 and most of his Haiku (then called haikai) in 1823 were about Peonies. (85+ of them!)
During his lifetime he wandered the length and breadth of Japan, writing everywhere he went - and apparently in 1823 he shared my feelings about peonies. Though his real name was Kobayashi Yatarou, he chose Issa (one cup of tea) as his haiku name.
My rough translation of his haiku from 1823:
'After this world (of)
(a) thousand minced fish
peonies.'
...which is to say, that in the afterlife surely it will smell like Peonies in comparison to yucky minced fish.
I don't quite like the analogy - but I think I get what he means:
'Surely heaven must smell as lovely as a peony does at the end of a long winter and in the early days of a beautiful spring.'
