A Summer Mansion

Emmalie in the BWCA, Aug. 2010

A single mat

Beneath

A pine tree

Makes a summer mansion.

~ Issa

Issa (1763-1828) was one of Japan's most famous and prolific poets, writing over 20,000 haiku in his lifetime.  I came across a book of his poetry in a box in my garage a few months ago.  It was with other books from my childhood, so I must've had it when I was growing up, but I don't remember reading it before.  

The poem above is one of my favorites from that book.  I spent so much time playing outside when I was little, much of it in or under trees.  I loved pretending that a cluster of trees (like the one in the photo above) was my house, complete with many rooms and a carpet of needles, leaves, or moss.  I can  easily see myself sitting beneath a pine tree, imagining a summer mansion around me....