Where Shadow Chases Light

from unknown skies
on breath of a passing breeze
perfume of promise

from unknown skies
flocks of migrant geese arrive
autumn on their wings

on breath of a passing breeze
drifting smoke like old man’s beard
tangled in brambles

perfume of promise
berries and windfall apples
leaves for the bonfire

Kim M. Russell, 16^th September 2018

My response to Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #50 Rabindranath Tagore’s “where shadow chases light”

I do enjoy Carpe Diem’s weekend meditations! This week we have another poem  by Tagore – with a bit more of a challenge. As well as being a distillation, in which the goal is to create a haiku from a given so-called ‘long poem’, we also have to create a Troiku with our distilled haiku.

This is my delight,
thus to wait and watch at the wayside
 where shadow chases light
 and the rain comes in the wake of the summer.
 
Messengers, with tidings from unknown skies,
greet me and speed along the road.
My heart is glad within,
and the breath of the passing breeze is sweet.
 
From dawn till dusk I sit here before my door,
and I know that of a sudden
the happy moment will arrive when I shall see.
 
In the meanwhile I smile and I sing all alone.
In the meanwhile the air is filling with the perfume of promise. 

Rabindranath Tagore