The Bamboo Hut, Issue 1, 2022
The Pink Ribbon
Autumn’s on its last gasp, leaves already half-buried in the wet ground. They cling to my shoes in clumps, slowing each early morning step.
quiet path I trip over my shadow
The mist refuses to lift, so, when I reach the lake there is only the sound of lapping waves and close up, the unfurling lotuses at its edges. I sit on an empty bench and listen to submerged birdsong.
transience
the wet pebbles
under my feet
Dawn is breaking. I close my eyes and let my body float; the sunrays touch my breast; its warmth lifts me above the clouds. In such moments, before I fall, sometimes I glimpse the divine.
calm wind my steady heartbeat
I am calm as I walk back. It seems all my worries disappear : the diagnosis, the surgery, all of it.
And there is only the light.
half-opened window
composing a new song
the robin and I
|
quiet day |
|
|
|
one after
another |
|
daffodil’s petals |
|
|
|
under his
feet |
|
her innocence |
|
|
|
crumpled |
----------------
|
acid rain |
|
|
|
uprooting
|
|
her feelings |
|
|
|
the
jasmine buds |
|
without fragrance |
|
|
|
forced
marriage |
-----------------
|
torrential rain |
|
|
|
washes away |
|
her story |
|
|
|
that is written |
|
on the wall |
|
|
|
with charcoal |
---------------
|
|
|
|
|
she makes |
|
soap bubbles |
|
|
|
with her
small hands |
|
to catch a
glimpse |
|
|
|
of her
fragile aura |
------------------
|
her
voice |
|
|
|
deepens |
|
the
folk songs |
|
|
|
she sings |
|
all
alone |
|
|
|
for her
doll bride |
----------------
|
her cupped hands |
|
|
|
on
the wedding day |
|
after a long
silence |
|
|
|
she
mumbles |
|
her deepest wish |
|
|
|
to
fly like a sparrow |
failed haiku A Journal of English Senryu Volume 6, Issue 67
----------------
