Member Poem

The moonflower

Fascinates my soul

Floating light

Yuugao ni

Mitoruru ya mi mo

Ukari-hyon

A moonflower at

Fascinated with and body also

Merry floating

Note: This haiku uses many puns, giving it deeper meaning. “Ukari” by itself means to float, be merry, be in high spirits. “Hyon” means a moonflower that floats on the water. “Yugao” means moonflower, but means “night face” if the kanji characters are read individually. “Mi” or body/self can be read as related either to the fascination mentioned before or the floating mentioned later. A prose translation capturing all of this could be the below.

A moonflower is the night’s face.

I look at it fascinated and my body and self is too.

It floats, happily, absent-mindedly, as do my feelings.