Poetry ~ Waka
Inspired by Patricia Donegan’s haiku:
As rain drops diminish
I hear the tapping
of the monk’s wooden bell. © Patricia Donegan
after the downpour
swallows bathe in pools
of rainwater
©Tournesol’16
Tonight
the cypress tree & I
lean into the wind. © Patricia Donegan
sailboat hastens
tall white sail tautens
wind at her back
©Tournesol’16
bodies melt
yellow rose in her hair
tango of love
bodies melt
sowing their roots
forming one
yellow rose in her hair
fragrant
seductive
tango of love
acquiescence
fruitful foreplay
© Tournesol’16-07-24
Our host inspires us on the Gorse Tree (bush) and to learn more, read it at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai
The Troiku is a new form of haiku created by Chèvrefeuille at Carpe Diem
under the moonlight
sisters
savouring last call
under the moonlight
melancholy moment
– just a hint
two sisters
bonds stronger than steel
but, for their master
savouring last call
hoping for one last treat
‘til sleep takes over
©Tournesol’16 – 07- 25
Daily Moments – July 25 2016 cherished moments Troiku and Haiga
Two Second at Ten, Prompt “strong”
The Troiku is a new form of Haiku created by Chèvrefeuille.
Chèvrefeuille challenges us at Carpe Diem withTheme Week (5) (5) The Fifth and Sixth Ray as our inspiration:
Hilarion, Chohan of the fifth Ray, the Green Ray, the Ray of Truth and The Chohan of the Sixth Ray is Lady Nada, the Sixth Ray is the Pink Ray of Peace.
pure of heart
emulating deeds
seeking truth
seeking truth
everlasting peace
death’s reward
(c) Tournesol’16
In spring I was delighted to see so many lilac trees lined along the streets in front of commercial areas. I wonder if that is an arrangement with businesses. Whatever the deal, it is simply breathtaking when they are blossoming at the same time.
Our city has ash trees lined on the side of streets and all along the boulevard in front of my home. These are the trees that shade the backyard of my son’s home as well, and I, along with his German Shepherd and Golden, like to cool off in their shade.
This year will not be one of those times, however. The ash trees in southern parts of Québec, Montreal 
What is unfortunate about this situation is the fact that too many cities plant the same type of tree …rows and rows rather than interspersing among a variety. Now with these trees all dying, we will be left with emptiness.
My son and I walked in a nearby park last Sunday and he showed me the holes in the bark of one ash tree. That`s where the larvae breed under the bark and suck all the life out of these beautiful ash trees.
rows of ash trees
leaves spreading sparingly
one last summer
one last summer
cycle ends before its time
mournng ash
© Tournesol ’16-07-09
Daily Moments July 9 2016 mourning ash Haibun
We are asked to choose a favourite haiku, explain why we chose it and rewrite another haiku inspired from our choice. I chose one from a chapter on Karma from David G. Lanoue’s book Pure Land Haiku: The Art of Priest Issa)
“Shortly before he died, Shinran wrote the following note to a friend: “Even when my life comes to an end and I am reborn into the Pure Land, I will come back again and again, like the waves dashing on the beach of Waka-no-ura”(Tran. Kurata247) Reincarnation, especially in relation to the bodhisattva myth of enlightened being returning to the world of suffering to enlighten others, was a favourite theme for the founder of Jôdoshinshû and, consequently, for his followers. Issa writes, then rewrites, a haiku about himself and a butterfly under a shady tree.
in tree shade
relaxing with a butterfly…
friends in a previous life
© Issa Kobayashi”
(Pure Land Haiku: The Art of Priest Issa by David G. Lanoue)
I chose this haiku because, since the death of my mother December 2014, I have been visited so many times from spring to fall by a particular butterfly. At first, I saw one in Montreal in a thicket behind my workplace on my way to my afternoon shift. I would stop and take photos and we would visit, silently conversing. This spring I am revisited again on a busy street by the same type of butterfly.
spring through fall
divine interventions
butterfly visits
©Tournesol’16/07/04
“There is pleasure in the pathless woods,
there is rapture in the lonely shore,
there is society where none intrudes,
by the deep sea, and music in its roar;
I love not Man the less, but Nature more.” Lord Byron
Inspired by Lord Byron’s poem
(tanka)
seeking solace
humankind may fail, unless
compassion rules
nature never disenchants
soothing soul by rapids`roar
©Tournesol’16/06/30
They ran up the mountain into the forest laughing like children. He took her hand tenderly and smiled.
letters in a heart
carved on mountain white birch
after their first kiss
© Tournesol’16/06/30
first day of summer
scent of princess Ann Rose
cherish willow’s shade
retro oasis
under a palm tree – lights
Camel cigarette
cruise-ship blares
voyage escaping winter’s snow
rainbow in the sky
yellow daisies
gild St-Anne’s Shrine – whilst,
campers bow in prayer
©Tournesol’16/06/22
CDHK – Back in Time – Full Circle
1.summer 2. princess 3. willow 4. oasis 5. palm tree(s)
6. camels 7. cruise-ship 8. snow 9. rainbow 10. yellow
11. shrine 12. prayer (or praying)
My great-great-grandfather, Michael O’Donnell was born in Ballybunion, County Kerry, Ireland and emigrated to Québec, Canada at the beginning of the great famine. His daughter, my great-auntie Mae returned to Ireland several times and shared slides of her journeys. We used to tease her since she never married and how a man holds her by the waist as she is lying on her back kissing the Blarney Stone. She would get a good chuckle out of that.
I would love to visit my roots one day and check out the castle ruins in County Kerry. Maybe I would be inspired to write a fairy tale or two.
emerald eyes gleam
hanging on his every word
tales of yore
County Kerry castles thrive
now – mere stone walls here and there
claims royal heirlooms
ripped from his ancestors
at Blarney Castle
©Tournesol’16/06/20
Carpe Diem “Ireland”
Tournesol dans un Jardin 