草しげるそこは死人を焼くところthe grass grows thick — there they burn the dead
くさしげる そこは しにんをやくところkusa shigeru soko wa shinin o yaku tokoro
昭和8年〜9年(1933-1934) 庵からの行乞1933–1934 · Begging journeys out from the hermitage
『草木塔』行乞途上Sōmokutō · On the Begging Road (Gyōkotsu tojō)
草の生い茂る一角。そこは死人を焼く場所だという。ほかより濃く茂る草を、旅人はただ見て通る。死のかたわらで、草はいっそう盛んに生きる。その対比を、句は説明しない。A patch where the grass grows thick. That, they say, is the place where the dead are burned. The traveler only looks at the grass, denser here than elsewhere, and passes by. Beside death, the grass lives all the more vigorously. The poem does not explain the contrast.