Haiku For Me

Haiku is a Japanese poetic form of 17 syllables, divided into three verses in 5-7-5 form. Traditionally, it was used to evoke a feeling, emotion or memory of Nature through the use of indirect imagery and is one of many short-poem forms popular since the 9th century.

Haiku as a writing form has proliferated in the past two decades and the Internet is filled with hundreds of sites about haiku. From the gloriously fragile (even when translated!) haiku of Basho to the modern output, the form has often contained deepest emotion.

The following 13 haiku are My own. I've written about 25 over the years, in a total of seven writing sessions. I initially used them as experiments, but these came from a deeper well, one burdened by the darkest days of My life. For reasons I still don't know--probably never will--I sat at My computer one night and wrote the first four haiku. I thought nothing of it, as I thought nothing of anything about Me at the time.

The next night, almost at the exact same hour, I wrote four more. There was a slight stirring in Me about this.

The third night, I sat down at the exact same time and to My surprise, five haiku emerged, not four. At the moment I wrote the last line, whatever spell I was under or in ended. Although My travail was to last many more months, over time I came to pinpoint that last line as the moment My eventual return to Me--to My feeling of Life--began.

Writing has always been My way, My path if I may continue to borrow zen-like terms. Maybe these haiku fade from memory; maybe they allow Me to share another's burden. I may never know that, and I'm pleased to realize I don't need to. I am content to know they mean much to Me and that they will always stand like glowing pebbles through My long dark night.


Say the softest words.
Hear the loudest silences.
There lies all wisdom.
-----18 Feb. 2002


My armor is strong,
Shards of hatred, set within,
My softness trembles.
-----18 Feb. 2002


My bowl stays empty;
Efforts melt in setting suns.
I scream emptiness.
-----18 Feb. 2002


Aimless, unguided…
The tide of hope swells and fades...
No answer is found.
-----18 Feb. 2002


No end to struggle,
No breaking of unknown chains,
Struggle to no end.
-----19 Feb. 2002


What’s past is present.
Wrapped in now’s fruitless worry.
What’s past never heals.
-----19 Feb. 2002

Is this love I feel?
Can it warm where I am cold?
Do I feel a lie?
-----19 Feb. 2002


Time flows; liquid pain,
Despair ghosts my every step,
Nearing agony.
-----19 Feb. 2002


Bereft of myself,
Empty cup of solid pain
Now overflowing.
-----20 Feb. 2002


Choose no destiny,
Abandon yourself to winds,
Regret is thy port.
-----20 Feb. 2002


You create yourself
In your very own image.
Is there a question?
-----20 Feb. 2002


Find one splendid strand
Amidst thy tangled raiment
Weave thy newest robe.
-----20 Feb. 2002


A lack of blessings:
Neither Nature nor a god,
Simply look within…
-----20 Feb. 2002


The Jenius Has Spoken.