A door knocking haiku apology.
A door knocking haiku apology in a letter to
warrior Ka-uñ of the Shirakawa Clan for not checking in,
i.e. for not stopping by as a courtesy --
Someone asks
a water rail about
the border guard's house.
Bashô: "I missed your poetry in Shirakawa, and I felt so sorry that I wrote a letter to you from Sukagawa." (> near Tôkyô/Edo)
NB: the call of a water rail is like someone knocking on a wooden door !!
Translation: 白ç‹
[Matsuo Bashô #517.]
seki mori no / yado wo kuina ni / towau mono.
"border guard's / dwelling (acc.) water-rail-to / asking someone."
"mono" is in hirágana , which seems kind of rude !! "mono" is also "something", so without the kañji one cannot be sure which one was meant !! Maybe it would infer another kind of bird !! A hawk [taká] ?? So Bashô may have been afraid to come, afraid of being eaten !!
Jane Reichhold's version is OK, although rather implying than literal:
"Border guard / I regret I was not a bird / to knock at your door."
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16-11-2014
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