初雪や
それは世にある
人の事
猫の子の
くるくる舞や
散る木の葉
玉霰
夜鷹は月に
帰るめり
From the haiku collection
《猫与四季》
(Cats and the Four Seasons)
By 小林一茶 (Kobayashi Issa)
Mandarin translations from Japanese
by 吴菲 (Wu Fei)
Illustrated by 千巨万
(Qian Ju Wan).
first snowfalls: those are matters of mortal beings oh, how the kitty whirls ’n twirls in dance amongst the drifting leaves in pearls of hail perhaps a nightjar returns to the moon *Nightjars are small, nocturnal or crepuscular (twilight) birds; the gray nightjar is particular to East Asia.