Writing this haiku was definitely inspired by Basho’s many stays in what I call his hermit huts, like his famous Banana Tree hut. At the time I was living in a hut of my own, and imagined Basho had to deal with many of the same things I had to. Mice scurrying on my roof, getting into my hovel and eating my food. Or at least at one or two in the morning I hoped it was only mice. I lived there in the woods of a National Park for three years, on and off, for weeks and months at a time.
At other times the trees swayed with the wind at night. I had to wonder why some of the random falling of trees in the wind hadn’t yet fell my 10’ x 20’ hut. While on other days i was stuck in my hovel. Melting snow for water and gathering and chopping wood to heat and heat food off my wood stove.
Stranded in the silence of falling snow. Snow that periodically fell in downpours off weighted branches. Always bright, even at night, with the moonlight illuminating the air as moonbeams reflected off the fallen white, the snow. It was a magical time, an inspiring and humbling time. Since the hike out to the road was some 4 hours from my hermit hovel, Up the Mtn. The snow was deep and the temperature cold. The hike had to be timed to reach a Ranger Station where i could catch a bus back into town. If I didn’t time my hike right I could be stuck overnight at the station, till the next morning. It was an exhilarating, precarious, and sometimes worrisome situation. One I’ve never regretted having been through.
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