The leaves, the leaves are gone except the oak, Which cling to trees and rattle needlessly. The others flame and fall for all to see. They streak and sizzle, leaving only smoke. But oak leaves hang as by some unseen yoke, All browned and curled awaiting sympathy, Or sap to course and lend vitality — The leaves cannot perceive the sorry joke. For spring will end the lie and they will drop, To drift and rot and turn in time to dust. As sure as buds will burst to make a crop Of new, the old will flutter down — they must. The falling leaves like lovers never stop. It’s hardly gentle, but ’tis just, ’tis just.
Issa self portrait. The poem reads: Even considered/in the most favorable light/he looks cold
Dropped my wife off at the airport this morning before dawn. The moon was full, and I was reminded why I like Issa most of all the old Japanese haiku masters.
Issa was so human and compassionate, despite the many losses and disappointments he experienced.
He certainly endured his share of suffering. He mother died when he was a young boy. His stepmother was manipulative and cruel. After his father died, his stepmother refused to recognize the will, which would have given Issa part of the estate. He saw all of his children die before him. And he outlived his beloved wife Kiku, who died giving birth.
At the risk of being misunderstood, I’ll quote one of his most touching poems, written after his wife’s death. By Issa:
The moon tonight —
I even miss
her grumbling.
There’s something so honest and sweet and human about that. He loved her and he loved even her imperfections. The sight of the moon brought it all back and stirred up his intense memories. He missed her and he missed all of her.
One other poem by Issa on this theme of loss:
Outliving them
Outliving them all —
Ah, the cold!
I cannot claim to comprehend Issa’s pain. My wife is still very much alive–just out of town for a few days. I’ve never lost a child. But having lost both parents and all my brothers, I have caught a glimpse of what Issa is saying about “outliving them all.” Just a faint glimpse.
I think of Issa’s poem. I think of that old Tom Waits song, “The last leaf on the tree.” I think of the oak trees from my Missouri youth. And all of this made me think of — and write — a new poem:
Late Winter Haiku
One grey leaf still clings
to the branch, curled up and dry.
Could fall any day.
Robert Frost was one of my mother’s favorite poets. He wrote a lot about farms and farmers, trees and nature — all of which appealed to the farm girl in her.
She transferred her appreciation of Frost to me. I like his poems a lot. At least some of them.
For my money, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” is a near-perfect poem. It’s widely appreciated and popular, and it should be. It’s so simple that you might dismiss it as trivial. But there is a lot there.
Frost captures the mood of the moment in time. The silence of snowfall. The primeval tug of the forest. The conflict between mundane duty and the longing for something more profound. The awareness of the inevitability of death.
The repetition of “And miles to go before I sleep,” in the last two lines may be the most famous example of this technique in American poetry. It really brings the whole scene to a profound conclusion.
And you get all of that and more out of a simple, everyday, rural event.
I had been reading a lot of Frost when I wrote this.
FALLING LEAVES LIKE LOVERS
The leaves, the leaves are gone except the oak, Which cling to trees and rattle needlessly. The others flame and fall for all to see. They streak and sizzle, leaving only smoke. But oak leaves hang as by some unseen yoke, All browned and curled awaiting sympathy, Or sap to course and lend vitality — The leaves cannot perceive the sorry joke. For spring will end the lie and they will drop, To drift and rot and turn in time to dust. As sure as buds will burst to make a crop Of new, the old will flutter down — they must. The falling leaves like lovers never stop. It’s hardly gentle, but ’tis just, ’tis just.
Poetic Champions 