Hokku 36 — Summary

Yone Noguchi’s three-line hokku opens mid-thought, as if answering some discouraged voice: “But the march to Life . . .” The ellipsis holds the sentence open for a moment, then the next line delivers a command—“Break song to sing the new song!” The old song has to be broken, not just set aside, so that something fresh can begin. That freshness appears in the final line as quick, impersonal natural action: clouds leap and flowers bloom. There is no human figure here. Instead, the speaker seems to feel that renewal is everywhere and already happening. The mood is urgent and springlike, almost breathless—stop hesitating, change the tune, and step into the movement of living things.