The Last Pilgrimage
After three winters
And two thousand miles by foot,
Basho is back home.
By the lonely creek,
Under the banana tree,
He sits down and weeps,
Disillusioned, old.
Tears find paths in deep furrows.
Night frogs are croaking.
His peonies withered,
The starlings’ nest abandoned,
Basho’s eyes downcast.
“What did you expect to find,
That would be different, old fool?
Eternal Light in Nikki?
In the sacred temples, Peace?
“Did you hope for Truth to dawn
At the foot of Mount Fuji?
In Sado, Serenity?
Enlightenment in Gassan?”
Basho strokes his balding head,
Vaguely sensing a presence-
The Enlightened One’s spirit-
His mind merging with Basho’s.
“Like a donkey with carrots
Dangling, barely out of reach,
You kept trudging, believing
That next step would bring you … what?
“Surrender your attachments
To temples and holy shrines.
Search, instead, what’s most precious:
The priceless Pearl deep within.
“Give your soul and feet some rest
On a different pilgrimage:
A wordless, pathless journey
To the Heart within your heart.
“Knowledge, shy as a sparrow,
Is hiding behind your thoughts.
If you chase it, it’s nowhere,
By Grace and stillness it’s yours.
“The truth that will set you free:
You are Eternal Spirit,
United with all of Life,
Your heredity is Love.”
The night is over,
The horizon penciled out,
Promising sunrise.
Morning birds chirping,
Sky turning lavender blue.
Basho´s smile is back.
The Buddha’s voice now fading,
Just a whisper in the wind,
“You shall certainly find It
If you seek with all your heart.”
Basho hesitates,
”Master, I’ll try my best, but…
…I’m only a man”
***
Bees with tiny wings,
Oversized, heavy bodies.
Who taught them to fly?
Comments without a personalized avatar will not be published.
A story told in poetry of Basho’s pilgrimage home, with deft use of haiku and tanaga. The conversation with the Buddha is beautiful, challenging, and wise. The ending is superb.

Watching the distant Andes
From his Colombian home,
The dreamy Swedish poet
Reminisces with Basho:
“Deep inside my mind
We were walking in your land,
Devouring the miles.
“Watching Mount Fuji
We sensed each other’s longing.
Tears of gratitude.”
Thank you, Voice-Team!
Your poetic story is totally mesmerizing, Christer. And I learned something in every paragraph of it. Especially the ending really inspired my whole being and mind. Well written.
Thank you very much for your nice words, Lotchie.
You’re welcome, Christer.
Comments without a personalized avatar will not be published.
You certainly hit the heart and soul of the subject there, Christer, and the final haiku is masterful.
Thank you for reading and commenting so generously, Allan. It makes me happy to see that it resonated with you.
Well done, Christer in your narrative poetry.
Thank you, Margarida. I hope you discovered the haiku constructions in my lines.
Sometimes less is more, just like your haiku … Truly inspired!
Comments without a personalized avatar will not be published.
It made me happy to see that you liked my haiku, Greene. Thank you for commenting.
I agree with Allan, Christer, you’ve truly captured the prompt, so eloquently and poetically. I absolutely loved it!
A appreciate your kind words very much, Linda. Thank you so much.
This is an incredible story, Christer – one of your best. Not only did you capture the spirit and story of Basho, but also so many of your lines are in the 5-7-5 three-line format that we associate with haiku. Beautifully written and crafted. I especially love the very last haiku. Excellent writing!
I have to confess, Fuji, that I wasn’t familiar with Basho when I first read Voice.club’s instruction for this contest. So to get started I bought and read the book on Basho that’s available online, by Penguin Classics. It was a pleasure to read it, both the introduction about the poet and then all his travel books with many haikus. From my reading, I understood that Basho was not always the happy, lighthearted, wandering poet that one might imagine. He writes about being sad and crying a few times, and I imagined that his wanderlust had its roots in some inner uneasiness that he tried to master by constantly moving on, searching for new, outer experiences and hoping for spiritual encounters. After finishing the book, I decided to try to put myself in his shoes, coming home, old and tired, from his last pilgrimage. Since my poem is much longer than a regular haiku, I decided that it needed two different rhythms to break it up a bit. I therefore used the 5-7-5 haiku model in the descriptive parts, and a 7-7-7-7 model in the parts where Basho has a spiritual meeting with the Buddha. The last haiku is supposed… Read more »
Comments without a personalized avatar will not be published.
Not fair. What’s wrong with Mount Susan? OK, not quite the same ring. There was a part of your poem that made me imagine people from war-torn countries returning home after their wanders and what they would find.
Of course! Mount Susan was my first choice! But when I tried to fit it into the story, it seemed a little bit too much of a stretch to have Basho visit it since it is situated in Colorado. Even if he took long walks, it would have been a bit too far from Japan. Mount Fuji was my second choice.
You two are hilarious. I will take these flippant references to sacred mountains – of which I am foremost of course – as the ditherings of humans. Basho and I live on a higher plane. Colorado mountains? Ha! A few years old compared to my ancient origins. 😊
I didn’t know I had a mountain
I also didn’t know there was a Mount Susan until Christer told us! I love the fact that we can explore profound topics, write about spiritual awakenings and also have fun in the process. I have to say Christer’s research for this story was incredibly extensive. We all learn from each other in these stories.
Comments without a personalized avatar will not be published.
What a pleasure indeed to cause the great Fuji, the symbol of sacredness and wisdom, to smile! As for her lifetime, since we are talking about a lady, I would just say as the French, that “c’est une femme d’un certain âge,” a woman of a certain age.
Great Haiku story Christer. I have to say that I love your bee picture too. I wish I could take shots like that. It’s stunning.
Thank you, Carrie. Yes, I guess it takes both skills and a fancy equipment to take that kind of pictures.
I certainly didn’t expect haiku when I clicked on your entry, Christer. A wonderful surprise and each one a gem, with the final one finishing the sequence perfectly. Well done!
Already in childhood I used to understand instructions in a different way than the rest of the class. It always bothered me and made me feel embarrassed and stupid. And here we go again! Still at this ripe age and in this class of talented writers, I seem to be the odd one out. No one else participated with a haiku. I feel like coming to a party dressed up in a suit while the rest of the guests are casually dressed. Anyway, I feel honored that you like my Japanese suit, Sandra. Thank you for your kind comment.
Comments without a personalized avatar will not be published.
Congratulations Christer on your top spot with your poetic haiku story 🙂
Thank you very much, Carrie. I appreciate your words.
Congratulations on winning the Grand Prize, Christer. A wonderful take on the prompt.
I feel honored for winning and for receiving your generous words, Linda.
Congratulations, Christer! A wonderful use of the prompt and a well deserved win.
Comments without a personalized avatar will not be published.
Thank you, Sandra! As you understand, I feel very happy about this.
A big congratulations, Christer. I am happy for your win. Cheers!
Thank you very much, Lotchie. It’s very kind of you.
You are welcome, Christer.
Christer, I was so happy to see that you won this contest. Your story was beautiful and wise and incredibly well-written. It seems that your writing is reaching new heights! Congratulations.
Comments without a personalized avatar will not be published.
Your comment means a lot for me, Juma, coming from a great writer like yourself. Thank you very much.