Poetry ~ Waka
Inspired by Ese’s haiku at CDHK
inevitable
the dance of a falling leaf
with a snowflake
***************
first snowfall
finally
sorrows veiled
first snowfall
leaves,
grief to rest
finally
lifts weight of shadows
balance restored
veiled sorrows
giddiness of snowflakes
pretence of joy
© Tournesol ’15
Ils avaient voyagé pendant deux jours et une nuit; la montée devenait de plus en plus téméraire. Ils se sont arrêtés dans les petits villages situés au long du chemin pour se reposer. En causant avec les villageois ils leurs demandaient conseils sur leur excursion jusqu’à l’Himalaya.
Un vieil homme était assis, les jambes croisées dans un petit cachot derrière le loge où ils ont été pour la nuit; il semblait en transe, endormi et rêvait peut-être. Les voyageurs ont été émus par le sourire éthéré sur les lèvres du vieillard.
l’intermède de l’ombre
quasi portée de la main
la danse des étoiles
© Tournesol ’15
Five years already on this blog. How time has changed. It started as a “thinking out loud” blog, sometimes getting on my soapbox and that was why I started Stop the Stigma. I moved on to short stories, then poetry all under the name “Cher Shares” and now it is Tournesol dans un Jardin with only Waka (Japanese poetry forms) which I grown to not only enjoy writing but has helped me on many spiritual levels and grieving my mom.
Up until two years ago, I posted maybe once a month and now I try to post daily…so it may be five years but it really feels more like two since I started taking this more seriously.
Thanks to followers who have been patient with all my transformations like someone who changes hair style often.
Cheryl-Lynn aka Tournesol
They had traveled for two days and one night, always climbing. They stopped in small villages along the way to rest a bit, talk with villagers and ask them advice on their journey up the Himalayas. An elderly man sat crossed legged in his tiny hut behind the cabin where they were lodged for the night. He seemed in a trance, sleeping and dreaming perhaps. The travelers were touched by the old man’s faint smile on his lips.
twilight’s first act,
almost close enough to touch
dancing stars
© Tournesol’15/11/20
I struggled with the haiku here are other drafts:
night draws its curtains
auspicious coryphée
stellar performance
or
night draws its curtains
coryphée is nigh
stellar ballet
or
twilight’s first act,
almost close enough to touch
dancing stars
or
night draws its curtains
auspicious coryphée
stellar ballet
whispering
such a raspy voice,
tickles her ear
© Tournesol ’15
Carpe Diem Haiku Writing Techniques – as is above, as is below
This was inspired by Ese’s “in the darkest hour”
in the darkest hour
wishing upon the morning star
just like years ago
© Ese of Ese’s Voice
*************
in the darkest hour
melancholy calls –‘til dawn
chases it away
in the darkest hour
whispering rhymes
playing into prayers
melancholy calls – ‘til dawn
softly warms the heart
morning beckons hope
chases it away
darkness runs not far,
playing hide and seek
© Tournesol’15
seeking treasures
sheep rest for the night,
in his dreams
in his dreams
the alchemist climbs mountains
diamonds in the sky
(c) Tournesol’15
Sitting in her living room she gazes out the window at the leaves. This was a bush planted a few years ago that kept climbing to the heavens. Her landlady asked her last fall, if she wished to have it trimmed to get a clearer glimpse through her window. “Oh, no!! please let it reach the roof and beyond if possible. I love the privacy it offers me so I can keep my drapes drawn and have my cloistered view of life outside my little world.”
Her landlady understood being a woman and living alone on the main floor, a busy street, she might benefit with this sweet discretion nature could provide.
The leaves were giggling and dancing like teenagers at a sleepover. Most of the grownups were fast asleep waiting for the next season but not this rebellious bush. She loved to see the life still withstanding the wind and the rain.
free flutter fly
giggling at the wind
children make believe
This morning, the rains and wind had stripped many trees out front. Her favourite tree in front of her patio window, next to her desk where she spent hours wandering in the forest of her mind, was no longer waving with those yellow leaves of last week. Now the branches, skinny and some thick and strong, crooked and curved were waving to her, inviting her to this new part of the season.
“Look at me sway back and forth!! I am still alive just wearing a new suit. I am mature and wise and will be here with you to lean on even in the dead of winter. So don’t cry over spilt leaves. Tomorrow will bring back strong, fragrant and green robes. You will see. Until then, just lean on me, my trunk can weather almost anything and certainly can hold you for the rest of this season and winter too.”
how valiant am I!
timberland’s warden – always,
lean on me
She smiled at this lovely invitation. It felt like a love letter from a strong, steady lover who may not show his colours but is always there if and when she needs to lean on him. Chuckling to herself aloud, her cat twitches an ear and lazily lifts her head one short moment and returns to her feline haven.
Now did she imagine all of this or did she actually hear the tree speak to her? She slips back into her private woodland hearing sylvan whisper des mots d’amour.
each leaf shows off
clinging for dear life
mocking at the tree
© Tournesol ’15
Tonight I walked home from work after eleven and just soaked up what I saw and stopped a few moments to take photos to capture those moments. I got to the Métro and wrote this troiku immediately before losing that feeling I had just a few moments ago. Of course these are ” Shasei” rather than haiku developped into a troiku.
Walking home
slippery streets mock
autumn leaves
~
walking home
beauty swells in the light
silent night
~
slippery streets mock
I walk gingerly
catch a twilight view
~
autumn leaves mock
cold and wet – yet,
colour my world
© Tournesol ’15
“Though this technique is often given Shiki’s term Shasei (sketch from life) or Shajitsu (reality), it has been in use since the beginning of poetry in the Orient. The poetic principle is “to depict the thing just as it is“…He favored the quiet simplicity of just stating what he saw without anything else happening in the haiku. He found the greatest beauty in the common sight, simply reported exactly as it was seen, and ninety-nine percent of his haiku written in his style. Many people still feel he was right.”
Tournesol dans un Jardin 