footnote
@Robin: Yes, the first line is crucial. You mention that: 'If the first line were absent, it would indeed be a mere image.' A 'mere' image. I think not. Looking carefully, we notice an inner-diorama unfold. . . .
A shepherd's purse is blooming
Under the fence.
(Basho will have to take care not to bump his head in bending to peer. Is he wanting to limbo down there to get a better look at this plant blossoming on the other side the fence?)
In and of itself, with the first line (and Basho) removed, this shepherd's purse, appears to be expanding its territory. But which way? On the viewer's side, or on the other side, incoming for light? I figure the other side, in the context of the full haiku. In the context of the truncated version we are free to choose.
It's a tale of enlightened self-interest and natural imperialism which ever way we look at it. A nod at the grass being greener, eternally, on the other side. Not being put off by man-made limits and red tape bureaucracy.
It's simply not just a picture of a cabbage! A 'mere image', descriptive of nothing more than itself - albeit, in Basho's lovely haiku, quite evocative (fence/blooming). It is showing a story and alluding to necessity's simple protocol - 'go for it'.
You see, nature does not recognise the arbitrary boundaries of this mere flicker of human existence as a species provisionally extant.
jp
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24-09-11
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SOME SHEPHERD'S PURSE FACTS. . . .
Wikipedia
'Capsella bursa-pastoris, known by its common name shepherd's-purse because of its triangular, purse-like pods...'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsella_bursa-pastoris#Uses
Spring kigo...
http://www.youngleaves.org/poetry/The%20Yuki%20Teikei%20Haiku%20Season%20Word%20List.htm
Symbolically, One of the 7 herbs of spring (haru no nanakusa). 'It is said that these herbs will remove evil from the body and prevent illness...'
http://japanese.about.com/od/japanesecultur1/a/062401.htm
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