Sunday, October 1, 2023

Basho

 







A developmentally disabled young man approached the front desk of the library with his personal assistant. The personal assist said that they had forgotten their library card and asked if I could check him out using an I.D.

I can!

I was handed an I.D. for the young man along with his book, The Collected Basho.

I'm always up for checking out some Seventeenth Century Japanese poetry to the public! So I checked the book out. I opened the book to slide in the date due slip, and I quickly scanned one of the short poems, super short! So short I could memorize it. 

I memorized it. 

I closed the book. 


I handed the I.D. to the young man. Then I carefully handed him the book and said, looking seriously at him, and taking him into my confidence with my quiet words: 



"The sea darkens. Voices of wild ducks, are faintly white."











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