Tag: Chevrefeuille

Ancient warrior ghosts—soliloquy no renga

Ancient warrior ghosts

mists over the foreign highlands

waiting for the full moon

©️Chèvrefeuille

.

legends of our ancestors

our questions unanswered

.

wind-spun leaves falling

barren branches touching sky

taste the autumn rain

.

here is yesterday’s footpath

buried under winter snow

.

full moon rising

blood surges in beating hearts

silver lights the night

.

M L King’s sword of courage

host of heroes standing by

~

©️2018 Ontheland

This short Solo Renga is for Carpe Diem’s Weekend Meditation #41 Soliloquy no Renga “ancient warrior ghosts”. The opening haiku is written by Chèvrefeuille. In a regular Renga people take turns in writing alternating two-line and three-line stanzas. In a solo renga one person writes all that follows the opening haiku.

bidding farewell

tumbling to earth

an apple falls close to the tree

farewell and renewal

©️2018 Ontheland

falling to the ground

a flower closer to the root

bidding farewell

©Matsuo Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)

~

tears flow

falling to the ground

autumn leaves

©Chèvrefeuille

Chèvrefeuille posed an interesting challenge: “revise” the above haiku by the venerable Basho.  As I understand, a “revision” in this challenge means to express in different words some of the essence of the original haiku. It is thought that Basho wrote his poem when a special teacher died. He makes use of the Japanese proverb, “a flower goes back to its root”. I decided to allude to another saying: “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”. In the end, my appreciation grew—for both Basho’s and Chèvrefeuille’s haiku.