Mono-no-aware

on pale inner arm
I ferry into the house
one small black bug



In his introduction to Essential Bashō, Sam Hamill mentioned an aspect of haiku that I was unfamiliar with, mono-no-aware. Hamill described this as the insight "to perceive a natural poignancy in the beauty of temporal things." Originally, according to Hamill, it meant "emotion initiated by engagement of the senses," for instance, the way a single crow's caw makes you feel sad for someone dead, or the way a lawn full of flickering lightning bugs fills you with hope.

I like the fact that our English word aware is so much a part of this term because first comes the deep awareness then the writing and emotion.