Encounter on a lonely road

Abandoning starving toddler

on the side of the road,

onward rode the samurai

in the monk's apparel.

Even to carry the child

into human habitation

was a deed beyond him.

Distant shrines were calling.

 

Better than throwing a piece of bread

would have been to still to carry a sword

and end the cries of the starving child

left in the wilderness, Bashõ.

03.05.2015