incense dreams JOURNAL - issue 1.3 - OMBRA e LUCE

I think there are few haiku more intensely visual and related to the
permeation of light and shadow, even without mentioning either.
Shadow is the image of what is fleeting, changeable, hidden. It is the
mystery of existence, the subtle essence of beings and things.
Only with the position of the body perpendicular to the sun at zenith there is
no shadow: this central, solstitial position, in which the soul no longer
shades, is the hour of inner peace.
The shadow is tied to what changes, which dies, but can continue to live in
the light of memory:
ちりて 後 おもかげにたつぼたん 哉
chirite nochi omokage ni tatsu botan kana
even after falling
the image stands
of the peony flowers
Yosa Buson