17th April is International Haiku Poetry Day

The leaf of a rose
returning to its long stem,
purple butterfly.
Moritake

***

Smell of plum blossom—
suddenly the sun appears
brighting a pathway.
Bashô

***

Dry axes chopping
amid the distant thicket—
woodpeckers knocking.
Issa

***

Only the Fuji
do not succeed to capture
the tall green grasses
Buson

***

In the fall rice fields
already withered, floating,
the cherry blossoms

Kyoroku

English versions by Germain Droogenbroodt – Stanley Barkan