Rouged Lips Comments

'' Rouged lips / forgotten - / clear spring water '' Chiyo wrote four versions of this haiku at different stages of her life. This is the last one and probably the best of the 4, written when she was 62 y.o. The haiku shows her forgetting her rouged lips (her makeup) while drinking the fresh water. It expresses the heightened awareness that comes when one forgets the self and the mind is present to the moment.'' [Patricia Donegan & Yoshie Isibashi]