Matsuo Basho

The Dragonfly

haiku

The Dragonfly - form Summary

A Single Haiku Moment

This three-line poem is a haiku that fixes attention on one fleeting image: a dragonfly failing to alight on a blade of grass. Its compressed form and present-tense immediacy make the moment feel fragile and unresolved. The brevity creates a pause in which motion and hesitation are foregrounded, inviting reflection on transience and the sharp observation central to traditional haiku.

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The dragonfly can't quite land on that blade of grass.

Translated by Robert Hass
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