Haiku 17: First snow

Here is today's haiku:

はつ雪やもの書けば消え書けば消え

And in romaji:

hatsu yuki ya mono kakeba kie kakeba kie

And English: "First snow: I write something, it disappears; I write, it disappears."

This is a haiku by Chiyo-Ni, a remarkable woman haiku poet who lived in the 18th century. You can read more about her at Wikipedia. This poem is included in the recent book by Patricia Donegan and Yoshie Ishibashi, The Poetry of Chiyo-Ni, and in their note to this poem, they explain that this poem belongs to her later life, and the idea of the writing disappearing is a comment on the fragility of her writing and of her life, as quick to melt as snow. I've seen some translations of this poem with the word "melt" instead of "disappear," but I stuck with disappearing: the snow melts, but it also makes things disappear when the snow covers them... and then those things return.

My vocabulary for today:

雪
ゆき
"snow"