UC Press is sharing a selection of haiku in celebration of the Winter Solstice and the publication of Bashō: The Complete Haiku of Matsuo Bashō, which offers 980 poems in English. Andrew Fitzsimons’ translation includes a number of Bashō’s headnote and is the first to adhere strictly to form: all of the poems are translated following the syllabic count of the originals. 

68

At long last it’s here
   At long last it’s here at last
      The end of the year

nari ni keri / nari ni keri made / toshi no kure

279

First snow of the year
   what happiness to be here
      in my own small hut

hatsuyuki ya / saiwai an ni / makariaru

285

Writing “moon” and “snow”
   how I have indulged myself
      the end of the year

tsuki yuki to / nosabari kerashi / toshi no kure

326

In the winter sun
   I am on horseback frozen
      become my shadow

fuyu no hi ya / bashō ni kōru / kagebōshi

Learn more about Bashō: The Complete Haiku of Matsuo Bashō