Missing a Wife

Haiku© Matsuo Basho (taken from Basho, The Complete Haiku by Jane Reichhold)

First part of this challenge was to find an ending for this unfinished verse

missing a wife
putting on bamboo grass
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missing a wife
putting on bamboo grass
in a darkened hut

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path of the sun
the hollyhock leans into
early summer rain

mud splashes the ankles
of the morning workers

above all else
a dependable chinquapin tree stands
in a summer grove

from a spiny burr I pluck
a single ripe seed

a dragonfly
unable to settle
on the grass

disappears with the wind
in the fading light

each with its own light
fireflies in the trees
lodge in flowers

celebrating under the stars
adding music to the night

missing a wife
putting on bamboo grass
in a darkened hut

no sounds of cooking
just another day of labor

an early winter shower
a rice paddy with new stubble
darkens just a bit

workers trudge slowly home
I linger with a wet face

2 thoughts on “Missing a Wife”