Bashō and the crow
puddleshark posted a comparison of two translations of haiku, and I was intrigued enough to google a little because one set resonated much more with me than the other.
Sometimes, you hit a motherlode.
https://www.ut.ee/klassik/sht/2001/sytiste1.pdf is a paper discussing the translation of this one, popular, haiku: there are 32 *further* translations in the appendix.
The article goes over every part of the original, discussing both form and content, the use of punctuation to fulfil the function of the kireji ('cutting word')... it's thorough.
And I feel I've levelled up my japanese, haiku, and translation skills just by reading it.
The livejournal version of this post has a picture of a blackbird taken in winter: not quite the same, but the nearest I'll get to a poetic coincidence.
Also posted at http://green-knight.dreamwidth.org/1079336.html where it has gathered
comments. If you're reading at both sites, I'd prefer comments at DW.