mid-western disaster

11 Apr 2019 8 Comments

by lynn__ in distillation, free verse Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Linking late to Linda’s “water” prompt at dVerse poetics…

 

water, water, water, everywhere!
dark clouds broiling across plains’
hard-crusted snowy landscape; soil
soaked by heavy rains, washes into
half-frozen rivers, ice breaks loose
floating icebergs grind along banks
dragging down bridges, trees, poles;
pressured dam gives way into torrent
that floods downstream in spreading
wave that engulfs barns, farmhouses’
families escape on muddy roads while
cattle are trapped on shrinking islands
hay bales swept away, fields ruined and
Nebraska is once again a broad ocean…

 

 

 

 

 

 

spring yearning

24 Mar 2019 1 Comment

by lynn__ in distillation Tags: , , , , ,

Chevréfeuille at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai prompts a “distillation” of a sonnet…

Sonnet 98  (by the master)

From you have I been absent in the spring,
When proud-pied April, dressed in all his trim,
Hath put a spirit of youth in everything,
That heavy Saturn laughed and leaped with him.
Yet nor the lays of birds, nor the sweet smell
Of different flowers in odour and in hue,
Could make me any summer’s story tell,
Or from their proud lap pluck them where they grew:
Nor did I wonder at the lily’s white,
Nor praise the deep vermilion in the rose;
They were but sweet, but figures of delight
Drawn after you, – you pattern of all those.
Yet seem’d it winter still, and, you away,
As with your shadow I with these did play.

© William Shakespeare

 

roses

 

my distillation in tanka form:

in beauty, scent, hue

all the flowers, roses too

cannot surpass you

winter’s lonely heart would thrill

if return to spring we will

 

© lynn__

 

 

 

 

so says Sophocles

01 Dec 2018 6 Comments

by lynn__ in distillation, quote, tanka Tags: , , , ,

A distillation of passage from Plato’s Republic linked to Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. Sophocles was a Greek playwright and here’s a quote from his play “Antigone”: 

“Many are the wonders of the world but none is more wonderful than man.” — Sophocles

_______

 

this gift of old age

when strength of passions relax,

free to be at peace…

but elderly who complain,

were they happier in youth?

 

 

sophocles
Sophocles bust (public domain)

 

time winds down

23 Sep 2018 2 Comments

by lynn__ in distillation, tanka Tags: , , , ,

Challenge at CDHK to “distill” the following poem by Tagore:

Time is endless in thy hands, my lord [LORD].
There is none to count thy minutes.

Days and nights pass and ages bloom and fade like flowers.
Thou knowest how to wait.

Thy centuries follow each other perfecting a small wild flower.

We have no time to lose,
and having no time we must scramble for a chance.
We are too poor to be late.

And thus it is that time goes by
while I give it to every querulous man who claims it,
and thine altar is empty of all offerings to the last.

At the end of the day I hasten in fear lest thy gate be shut;
but I find that yet there is time.

© Rabindranath Tagore, Endless Time

(see my “distillation” below in tanka form)

endless time

“Endless Time”

trace curved flow of hours

marked by celestial bodies

— our minutes’ limits —

seek face of eternal LORD

above / beyond track of time

 

© lynn__

 

 

 

senior living

16 Sep 2018 2 Comments

by lynn__ in distillation, senryu Tags: , , , , , , ,

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

Challenge: Try to create a haiku  from this poem by Tagore and than create a Troiku with your “distilled” haiku. Link to Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. My attempt follows…

 

i sit by my door
watching shadows chase the light
from dawn to dusk

i sit by my door
see the people passing by
everyone hurries

watch shadows chase light
sun dapples quivering leaves
of old poplar trees

from dawn to dusk
quiet hours marked by clock chimes
awake between naps

 

©️ lynn__

because i am

04 Sep 2018 4 Comments

by lynn__ in distillation, haiku, tanka Tags: , , ,

Gitanjali, Song Offerings sounds amazing but can you bring it back to its essential meaning and create a haiku with it? That’s the goal for Carpe Diem’s weekend distillation…

The time that my journey takes is long and the way of it long.
I came out on the chariot of the first gleam of light,
and pursued my voyage through the wildernesses of worlds
leaving my track on many a star and planet.
It is the most distant course that comes nearest to thyself,
and that training is the most intricate which leads to the utter simplicity of a tune.
The traveller has to knock at every alien door to come to his own,
and one has to wander through all the outer worlds to reach
the innermost shrine at the end.
My eyes strayed far and wide before
I shut them and said `Here art thou!’
The question and the cry `Oh, where?’ melt into tears of a thousand streams
and deluge the world with the flood of the assurance `I am!’

© Rabindranath Tagore (taken from “Gitanjali”)

 

my distillation haiku:

inner universe
who comprehends one’s own soul?
recognition’s tears

 

and i add 2 lines for tanka:

find identity in God
Creator, greater “I AM”