On the sandy trail where we take the daily walk, transparent wings of the dragonfly. The dragonfly has been featured in countless haiku. And here is Tennyson, besides.
as is the life
of the dragonfly
Issa, trans. by David Lanoue on his Haikuguy website
The Dragon-fly
Today I saw the dragon-fly
Come from the wells where he did lie.
An inner impulse rent the veil
Of his old husk: from head to tail
Came out clear plates of sapphire mail.
He dried his wings: like gauze they grew;
Thro' crofts and pastures wet with dew
A living flash of light he flew.
The Dragon-fly
Today I saw the dragon-fly
Come from the wells where he did lie.
An inner impulse rent the veil
Of his old husk: from head to tail
Came out clear plates of sapphire mail.
He dried his wings: like gauze they grew;
Thro' crofts and pastures wet with dew
A living flash of light he flew.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
the dragonfly
can't quite land
on that blade of grass
Basho, translated by Robert Hass
The Essential Haiku, ECCO, 1994, page 45.
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