Of Age and Cherry Trees

inside the temple
visitors cannot know
cherries are blooming

their ephemeral flowers
blushing like youthful geisha

the old woman
a cherry tree blooming in old age
is something to remember

branches laden with blossom
trembling in a brisk spring breeze

what a sprout
a dewdrop seeps down the nodes
of generations of bamboo

youthful innocence of dawn
quenches the thirst of wisdom

in summer rain
would you be happy with
the moon’s face

so pale and inquisitive
leaching lustre from the sun

the voice of reeds
sounds like the autumn wind
from another mouth

the echoing of its sighs
a song of experience

separated by clouds
the wild goose lives apart for a while
from his friend

the time comes to fly away
weaving skeins of grey feathers

Kim M. Russell, 14^th June 2018

My response to Carpe Diem’s Renga Challenge #1 a cherry tree blooming in old age

Today we have a new feature called ‘Carpe Diem’s Renga Challenge’, in which the goal is to create renga (chained verse), with an extra challenge.

Our challenge is to create a renga of at least six stanzas and a maximum of twelve.  However, there is a rule: we must create our renga from given haiku, adding two-lined stanzas of our own (7-7 syllables) to complete the renga. We may use the haiku in any order we choose.

For this first Renga Challenge’, the six chosen haiku are by a young Basho, translated by Jane Reichhold, and taken from her book Basho, The Complete Haiku.