Hokku 24 — Summary

The speaker pictures himself riding in a barge that carries “the memory of mists” and moves along a “life-grey stream.” It feels less like a real journey than a quiet inner voyage. The barge suggests passivity: he is not rowing, just gliding. The mists are memories, soft and blurred, impossible to hold. The greyness of the stream makes life feel muted, dreamlike, and a little sad. The opening “Oh, my own self” gives the poem an intimate, almost wondering tone, as if the speaker is watching himself from a small distance. The mood is reflective and calm but touched with melancholy—a sense of being carried onward by time while memories drift like fog around him. It leaves the reader with a feeling of gentle detachment, as if suspended between waking and dreaming.