Butterflies in Winter
Chiyo-ni (Kaga no Chiyo)1703-1775 began writing communication at a age of seven. A student of a famous Japanese haiku poet Basho, Chiyo-ni later in life became a Buddhist nun not in sequence to renounce a world, though out of a desire "to teach her heart to be similar to a transparent water that flows night as well as day." Her poems frequently anxiety a difficult gender dynamics of 18th century Japan, a time as well as place where women writers were rarely marginalized, while also maintaining a haiku convention of exposing a suchness of bland life.
Amongst her steady subjects is a butterfly. Sitting underneath a pile of sleet as well as cold dark here in Minnesota, butterflies appear distant away. Their frail beauty, clever determination (able to fly thousands of miles), as well as definitely obvious impermanence (most vital reduction than a year) make them great subjects for Buddhist poetry. Here have been four of Chiyo-ni's moth haiku. May they inspire dreams, generally for those of us vital in a winter dark right now.
Butterfly upon a maiden's path
now behind
now in front.
Butterfly --
you also get mad
some days.
A moth --
What dream
is creation your wings flutter?
What a butterfly
wants to contend --
only this movement of its wings.
*Image can be found here.
