Tag: CARPE DIEM HAIKU KAI

River rink (haibun)

© Jessie Botanical at Deviant Art

I remember first time I skated with my mother and sister. Mom and my sister were so darn adept on their skates…they could actually stand up witout wobbling! I must have been about four wearing dark brown leather skates that folded at the ankle, so my body rested on the leather rather than those blades.  But my mother was so patient with me…chubby me, clumsy as could be…no side boards to hand on to …just low snow banks after they had shoveled a personal skating rink just for us on the river behind GrandMaman’s house.  I must have been wearing my older cousin’s skates…boy’s skates to boot!

I later managed to stand up on better skates but wobbly I was. One night when I was about 12 the river was cleared of snow and my uncle wanted to go out skating with his girlfriend…well! I decided to tag along this romantic venture…but I did stay back several feet…it was a full moon, we skated across the river…whoosh…scratch…whoosh, whoosh…the moon was so bright we could even skate to the little inlets…I was a bit worried the ice may not be as thick but still felt safe following my uncle…my hero.  What a guy to let his niece tag along on this magical evening. I will never forget that night…whoosh, whoosh…scratch…whoosh, whoosh…wind blowing softly on my face.

children giggling
wobbling on the ice
river holds

hands clasped
lovers glide on the river
under a full moon

whoosh whoosh
blades scratch the river floor
frozen in time.

© Clr ’14 Saw this girl at Montreal Atrium today, at the bus terminal/Metro Bonaventure and could not resist…that would have been me a long time ago.

© Tournesol ’14

Carpe Diem

solitude (haibun)

© Clr '14
© Clr ’14

Solitude may not always mean sadness, it is simply being alone. Many times it is by choice.  It is interesting that loneliness, isolation, seclusion and privacy are synonyms found for solitude.  I suppose if it is not by choice it can be painful and lonely. However, if it is by choice, it is almost a refuge, a place to breath, collect one’s thoughts…create, compose.  Perhaps when we know of someone who is living alone, we could ask if they feel lonely and not assume all persons living alone are unhappy.  I love people; I am a very social person and love to laugh and enjoy the company of friends and my children. I also love my “alone” time where I can hear myself think.  The silence sometimes screams …those are often my thoughts waiting to be put “on paper”.

Since the passing of my mom, I don’t feel the same aloneness I felt leaving work, walking with a heavy step after a shift…I feel a presence, a shadow that quickens my step, removes a load off my shoulder…I feel blessed…in her grace…shadow of her love.

vignette of mom signed

Walking home
under the umbrella
skies weep

skies weep
souls scream shedding despair
bleeding,
I no longer walk alone
her shadow comforts me.

shadow comforts me
arriving home alone
my cat purrs

my cat purrs
lingers by my laptop,
hushed whispers

hushed whispers
I’m here if you need me
no longer alone.

© Tournesol ’14

pure air (haiku)

DestopWallpapers

Mountain top
breathing unpeopled air
pure
~
pure
cabin provides warmth
echoes inner peace

© Tournesol ’14

Carpe Diem – Mountain Cabin

After the snow storm (haibun)

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I took another long route to work today. After a snow storm, I love to see the trees covered with thick snow, many streets only one side is plowed. This reminds me when I drove to work at 6pm. I had to move my car to the other side so the snow plow could clear the street.  There was usually always a warning, a truck drives up ahead with flashing lights and honks to warn a few drivers to move their vehicle, otherwise they get a hefty ticket.

Today I was in awe at the parks and the trees. Of course I felt sorry for the cyclists because we have many avid winter cyclists who often have trouble finding their bike in the huge snow banks the snow plows created.  Today it was wet heavy snow and the streets were slushy. My feet were soaken wet…guess my boots are not as waterproof as I thought.

After the snow storm

Sopping city streets get messy

fairyland parks

~

night snow plows

craft high snow banks

ignoring cycles

© Tournesol ’14

Carpe Diem

message of serenity (haiga)

© Northern Lights - Alien Study
© Northern Lights – Alien Study

A young teen called once to say he wanted to take his life. Let’s call him Real.  He had seen too much sadness in his short years…abuse, death of a close friend and the pain weighed too heavily on him.  I knew he was calling from the far North and asked him if he often saw Aurora Borealis. “Why yes,” he quickly responded, “It is my ancestors telling me they are safe and happy in their world.  I am going to join them now.”

I asked him if his ancestors might also be asking him if he still had things to do on this land before travelling beyond to meet them. He paused a long moment…he later accepted to go to emergency and get help.  

I can never forget this youth for he phoned our service four days later to thank me, and that he was in hospital getting the care he needed.

multi-hues
whispering from beyond
a life of grace

ancestors
travelling on tinted vapours
call of serenity.

© Tournesol `14

Carpe Diem

moonbeams (haiga)

(c) clr 2014
(c) Clr 2014

white light
beckonning full moon
white dove

white dove
soaring to infinity
free at last

free at last
moonbeams form a stairway
steps to heaven

© Tournesol ’14

Carpe Diem “Full Moon”

spirit is infinite (haibun)

© Clr `14
© Clr `14

The only death I truly accepted and understood the infinite journey was my grandfather’s death. Although I was only six, I was blessed to be in a family that was open about life and death; my grandmother being a midwife, talked often of the births she assisted and it did not take away my youth as so many of my Anglo-Saxon raised peers felt…French Canadians kept many European mores I think. And so I remember going to hospital to await the news the doctors would pronounce of the impending fate of my GrandPapa. We often sat by his bedside holding his hand daily for a year, as I lived with my grandparents that year. My sister and I saw the priest perform his last rites, Extreme Unction and his last smile at me surrounded by his children the day he passed.

So for me, finite meant my favourite person had an expiry date to his suffering; he would be in a place where there is no pain, where he could run freely …and yes, I believed this and to some extent still do.

At my age, I have lost many relatives and friends to death and more recently a friend and colleague for whom I have shared a series of haiku; unfortunately there are many I have not quite accepted…sudden deaths, people too far for me to go to their service are mostly the people I still struggle to accept and sometimes I feel it was all a dream and they are still here.

How often I wanted to dial the number of my friend, Janet, who died suddenly when I was far away. The only person who read my mind, felt my emotions; our signal to chat after midnight…one ring…we both knew was the other who wished to talk until dawn. I still don’t accept the infinite passing of this friend.

(American Sentence)

Grandpapa, tu es toujours près de moi, dans mon cœur, ombrant mon âme.

(haiku)

humble corps affaibli
enfin libéré
douleur fini

âme pétillant
pure et infini
les cieux attendent

yeux brillants
plonge dans l’éclat céleste
lumière blanche

lumière blanche
le séduit à l’éther
infinité

infinité
âme sans âge baigna
grâce devin

~

weary body
humble and finite
pain-free at last

soul lives on
infinite and pure
heavens await

iridescence
eyes dip in hallowed glow
white light

white light
seduced to the ether
infinite

infinite
ageless soul bathes
celestial grace

© Tournesol ’14

Carpe Diem “accepting the finite”

flocon de neige (haiga)

tablet-win_20141116_092522-2[1]

au revoir feuillage
repose bien verdure
accueillant l’hiver

l’arrivé du froid
le charme des glaçons bijoux
flocons émerveillent

****

farewell foliage
rest well verdure
welcome winter

advent of cold
magic of icicle gems
snowflake enchantments

(c) Tournesol ’14

Carpe Diem “Exodus”

colours of paradise (haiga)

© Clr '14
© Clr ’14

lovers bathe in sheer bliss
honey to a bumblebee
as the sun sets

strokes of beauty
sensual and lush overflow
colours of paradise

rooftop serenade
bowing at sun kissed skyline
gently slips away

© Clr '14
© Clr ’14

(c) Tournesol ’14

paradise recalled (haibun)

What is paradise? Is it a place we pray and hope to reach some day? Is it a moment of total bliss, joy and exaltation? I think it depends on where you are in the cycle of your life and where you are in your life. If I were in a war zone, fearing the death of my children and grandchildren, paradise to me would be a safe refuge. A camp with enough food and shelter…safe from harm’s way would be paradise.

If I think of all the “Have’s” we have here…I have here, the luxuries, the comforts, the warmth and living without the threat on my life or my children, family, friends and country…I am really in paradise, non? And yet, we search and crave more.

Walking down the street to work and seeing the sun peak at me through the clouds, is not that a moment of grace? A rainbow an autumn evening in the city at rush hour, what a way to end a busy day…pedestrians looking up in exaltation…the smiles on their faces warm with delight and childlike wonder…those are moments of paradise.

Naive and innocent was I…we were such young newly weds, years later I remember thanking G-D for allowing couples to visit paradise in those intimate moments reaching nirvana.

My babies nursing and looking up at me with their huge baby blues, one hand gently stroking my cheek…paradise in all its splendour.

The soothing purring of my cat when I wake up from a nightmare, she has rescued me and brought me to a heavenly place…a moment of bliss.

To feel comforted, to be worry free, to reach your destination after driving in a blizzard…to arrive in a warm home, with a warm cup of tea…paradise.

I believe writing has allowed me to appreciate more, take note and savour more the moments that we are blessed with every day.

They are accumulations of moments too often missed…not stopping to relish, take a snapshot of those moments …it is the memory of those moments of bliss, paradise, that get me through the sullen moments. So, STOP, slow down, listen, bathe in it and store it forever in the attic of your brain.

(c) Clr '14
(c) Clr ’14

a fleeting moment
hark! you’ll miss it
paradise lost

genuine joy
souls joined in concert
paradise

at long last
barren mother hears bliss,
“It’s positive”

nursing my newborn
stares into my eyes,
lost in paradise

those first steps,
first time hearing “Mama”…
rise to Nana

sun and wind
commune with the lake
blissful sailing

intimate lovers
matching their rhythms
nirvana

muse murmuring,
writing poetic prose
paradise found

enticed by nectar
butterfly kissed buds
heavenly blossoms