pink peony
butterfly nips sweet nectar
soft petals curl
(c) Tournesol ’15
http://chevrefeuillescarpediem.blogspot.fi/2015/07/carpe-diem-time-machine-12-botan-peony.html
Tag: poetry
summer souvenirs (haibun)
After dinner, brother and sister would go to the pier with their mother to fish. The mother didn’t mind putting the squiggly worm on the hook for them. He would feel so proud when he got a bite and would reel in his catch, a small gold carp. Silently (yet beaming) he would unhook the fish and throw it back into the lake to give it a chance to get bigger.
His little sister would through the rod backwards not realizing the hook could catch a human and anyone close by would hide for cover; she was but five years old and took her fishing seriously…her serious look meant “business” so different than the “laissez-faire” allure of her older brother.
They are nice memories of a long ago, by the lake, together, hearing the catamarans rock, soft waves roll in and feel the tug of a fish bite now and then.
wiggly worm
alluring innocence
gold carp
gold carp
pleads for time
swims to freedom
© Tournesol ’15
Written for: CPHK
Thanking our host and patient mentor at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai for his dedication and tireless commitment to his blog, our prompts and mostly that has allowed me to grow a bit more each day. Merci Chèvrefeuille!
Chaleur humaine (haiga)
How blessed I am once again with another floral arrangement of appreciation from all the managers at work honouring my milestone.
soothing warmth
strokes of appreciation
yellow flowers
~
yellow flowers
roses, daisies, carnations
puffs of harmony
~
chaleur humaine
coups de satisfaction
fleurs jaunes
~
fleurs jaunes
les roses et les oeuillets
souffles d’harmonie
© Tournesol ’15
still hope for peace (haiku – tanka)
Heaven smiles
tropical clouds burst short rains
palm tree shelters
fountain of youth
like a desert goddess
futile mirage
Smokey jazz café
slow dance to Duke Ellington
hot summer night
Honeysuckle blooms
ancient road no longer bare
baby boomers flock
harmony hill
still hope for miracles
© Tournesol ’15
Our host, Chèvrefeuille, at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, gives us twelve (12) words (for every ”hour”) one word. The goal is to write haiku using the words as given in the clock wise way.
- Heaven 2. Clouds 3. Palm tree 4. Fountain 5. Goddess 6. Desert 7. Jazz cafe 8. Duke Ellington 9. Summer night 10. Honeysuckle 11. Ancient road 12. Hill
Our host gives us an example:
blue heaven
clouds gathering
a palm tree
© Chèvrefeuille
summer splash (haibun)
Big city fountains offer solace to children and adults during summer heat waves. A homeless woman soaks her feet in tepid water chanting a bluesy song, swaying side to side.
summer spree
water fountain splash
uplifting spirits
(c) Tournesol ’15
words from the heart (haiga + haibun)
Handcrafted by Alain Johnson, Clinical Director
It is difficult to put into words what my heart feels but perhaps with images and a few haiku I may manage to give a glimpse of le moi à l’interieur.
Changing careers in 2000 was not only a choice but a dream for me. Accepting this position was a privilege not a duty. Helping those who find the courage to reach out is a joy. Hearing disclosures of suffering is an honour which I embrace each day with overwhelming love and humility.
I’ve been privileged growing up swaddled in love and compassion which gave me the resilience in times of adversity. Too many have never had this advantage in life.
On Thursday, I was showered with well wishes and compliments…festive balloons and hand crafted candles announcing my 15 years working at a national youth line. And yet, I am the one to be thankful for doing what I love best.
My colleagues warmed my heart with such sweetness and one special person wanted to show her sentiments by giving me a beautiful bouquet of fresh cut flowers that touched me more than she knows.
Bouquet from Stephanie Julien-Gaudry
I never felt so close to my colleagues as this day and grateful to be part of such a great team of loving and caring counsellors. I know how I have always felt but have never realized how I may be perceived by others and truly this is humbling.
red roses
spilling fragrance
bleeding hearts
exuding sweetness
hope restored
blonde petals
swell of golden glow
souls inspire
unsullied
yet, made of substance
with purest intent
(c) Tournesol’15
In sync with nature (Tan Renga)
warm rain
the spring moon returns
to the rusty can
©Yu Chang
warm rain
the spring moon returns
to the rusty can
rhythm of raindrops
a lovers’ cadence
(c) Tournesol’15
nature (haiga)
sudden cloudburst
innocence surrenders
wind’s casualty
When she was little, she would climb up into the tree with her sister and her cousin. They would imagine the branches had mini bananas.
such wonder
visions of faraway lands
child’s play
giraffes and elephants
and banana trees
morning sun
beams on nature’s gifts
fragrance grins
(c) Tournesol ’15
Written for: http://chevrefeuillescarpediem.blogspot.ca/2015/07/carpe-diem-special-155-adjeis-second.html
fazing of the night (haibun)
She looks out the window, waiting for daylight. Birds bid her a good morning in the darkness of the night still, fazing ever slowly. She turns to look at her mistress and waits for a sign, then nuzzles on her pillow and tries to catch some sleep in the quiet dim of night.
birds chirping
breakfast conference
pre-dawn call
© Tournesol’15
all one and the same (haibun)
Awakened by the lovely sound of birds chirping made her hope it might be sunny today. It is! Her friend meows in protest for having shut her bedroom door earlier in the morning. She chatters away expressing her discontent with a hint of hope to be stroked, fed and stroked some more.
The sky is a darker blue than most seasons…not quite cobalt but close with pearly billows drifting by accentuating the hues of this majestic sky.
sea of blue above
islands shaped in pearly greys
beg my surrender
She had moved her laptop in the living room so she could watch a movie last night and fires it up always curious to see the haiku prompt of the day at Carpe Diem Haiku kai. In the past few months she has not been as regular contributing and she misses her haijin family. Yesterday she took the time to visit a few siblings and cousins homes around the world in the blogosphere.
Her thoughts wander to a friend who is in San Ramon today and will be seeing Amma at her retreat. How she misses her warm and healing embrace. Some call her a guru, others call her a hugging saint…she feels she is all of these and more. Her healing touch, her soothing smile, her words of wisdom and mostly her way of living by loving, giving tirelessly to humanity makes her heart swell. Amma has a way of looking at you and making you see the beauty within. How she does it is a mystery or is it? She does not preach laws but models compassion and asks us to see the light we all have within.
Her mind drifts off to sounds of various bhjans songs and the tabla drumming to her heartbeat. Its echo makes her feel the divine beauty reflected from within. So many instruments mimic nature and human sounds; her Celtic spirit awakens with strings, flutes and drums that soften her heart. Drum circles come to mind and First Nations People who have become her conscious, reminding her to be good to Mother Earth.
She looks at her mala beads and remembers hearing Amma say last year, “We are all beads strung on the same string of love.” She tries to remember this daily. The image of several homeless people who sit along her path to work come to mind. Some speak French, English, Créole, Arabic or Spanish but she knows they all understand the same language…compassion.
sound of the drum
listen to the heart beat
all, one and the same
© Tournesol’15/11/14
Tournesol dans un Jardin 
