Lessons from the Fen

[billy]

what ever you say is good, here are some translations of one of the most translated haiku there is. most are non-iambic and most don't hold to the 575 or any other format except the one that captures the moment. the idea of an haiku was to catch a moment in time with one breath. it doesn't really matter how it translates lengthwise as long as it's in a breath.

The original Japanese:


Furu ike ya
kawazu tobikomu
mizu no oto



Old pond — frogs jumped in — sound of water.

Translated by Lafcadio Hearn


A lonely pond in age-old stillness sleeps . . .
Apart, unstirred by sound or motion . . . till
Suddenly into it a lithe frog leaps.

Translated by Curtis Hidden Page


Into the ancient pond
A frog jumps
Water’s sound!

Translated by D.T. Suzuki


The old pond;
A frog jumps in —
The sound of the water.

Translated by R.H. Blyth


An old pond —
The sound
Of a diving frog.

Translated by Kenneth Rexroth


Pond, there, still and old!
A frog has jumped from the shore.
The splash can be heard.

Translated by Eli Siegel


Old pond
and a frog-jump-in
water-sound

Translated by Harold G. Henderson


The old pond, yes, and
A frog-jumping-in-the-
Water’s noise!

Translated by G.S. Fraser


The ancient pond
A frog leaps in
The sound of the water.

Translated by Donald Keene


old pond
frog leaping
splash

Translated by Cid Corman


The old pond,
A frog jumps in:
Plop!