Chiyo's Cicadas

#Chiyo #haiku #translation #cicadas #japanesepoetry

Taki no ne mo hosoru ya mine ni semi no koe 

sound of waterfall 
tapering off ! peak(s) location 
 voice of cicada 

the sound of water falling from or near a peak tapering off becoming less or is the waterfalls sound making the cicadas voice less?

Cicadas vary the volume of their chorus 

I don't how Japanese cicada behave 

I have this picture in my mind of Chiyo walking through a forest or trees full of cicadas and suddenly coming to a pool where water is falling noisily down the peaks and maybe sitting besides it to write this haiku after meditating or simply resting on a long walk to visit a Buddhist temple.

The sound of the waterfall 
lessening amongst the peaks 
The voice of the cicadas

amongst is too strong a translation of ni but works in English

I'm not sure of the best reading of mo here... and so though ?
hosoru should be thinning like a thread being spun but thinning doesnt work in modern English or Japanese where few people spin their own thread?

The voice of the cicadas however is just as strong !