210Haiku 俳句
旅に病んで夢は枯野をかけ廻る
たびにやんでゆめはかれのをかけめぐるTabi ni yande yume wa kareno o kakemeguru
“Sick on a journey — my dreams go wandering still over withered fields.”
The meaning
The body stops, the dream keeps walking. Bashō's last poem: to the very end, the traveler's spirit stays on the road.
At the origin
Dictated by Bashō on his deathbed in Osaka, in 1694.
The characters
- 旅 tabijourney
- に nion, during
- 病んで yandefallen sick
- 夢
- は
- 枯野
- を
- かけ廻る
にParticleThe point of arrival: a place, a moment, a destination.
In practice
What you can no longer do today, let it at least travel in thought.
Themes
Similar proverbs
- 035 病は気から Illness starts with the spirits.
- 053 旅は道連れ世は情け On a journey, a companion; in life, kindness.
- 154 苦は楽の種 Hardship is the seed of joy.
- 200 人の一生は重荷を負うて遠き道を行くが如し A man's life is a long road walked under a burden; there is no need to hurry.
- 269 花は折りたし梢は高し One longs to pick the flower, but the branch is high.