More Iffy Coronavirus Haiku

yet another iffy coronavirus haiku #1 by michael r. burch plagued by the Plague i plague the goldfish with my verse yet another iffy coronavirus haiku #2 by michael r. burch sunflowers hang their heads embarrassed by their coronas I wrote this poem after having a sunflower arrangement delivered to my mother, who is in an assisted living center and can’t have visitors due to the coronavirus pandemic. Homework by Michael R. Burch Dim bulb overhead, my silent companion: still imitating the noonday sun? Not Saying the World Revolves Around You, But... by Michael R. Burch The day’s eyes were blue until you appeared and they wept at your beauty. Imperfect Perfection by Michael R. Burch You’re too perfect for words? a problem for a poet. Stormfront by Michael R. Burch Our distance is frightening: a distance like the abyss between heaven and earth interrupted by bizarre and terrible lightning. Splintering An unbending tree breaks easily. —Lao Tzu, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Autumn Conundrum by Michael R. Burch It's not that every leaf must finally fall, it's just that we can never catch them all. Laughter’s Cry by Michael R. Burch Because life is a mystery, we laugh and do not know the half. Because death is a mystery, we cry when one is gone, our numbering thrown awry. Childless by Michael R. Burch How can she bear her grief? Mightier than Atlas, she shoulders the weight of one fallen star. New World Order by Michael R. Burch The days of the dandelions dawn ... soon man will be gone: lawn fertilizer. Grasses wilt: the braking locomotive grinds to a halt —Yamaguchi Seishi, loose translation by Michael R. Burch Oh, fallen camellias, if I were you, I'd leap into the torrent! —Takaha Shugyo, loose translation by Michael R. Burch Inside the cracked shell of a walnut: one empty room —Takaha Shugyo, loose translation by Michael R. Burch Sad, the end that awaits me — to think that before autumn yields I'll be a pale mist shrouding these rice fields. —Ono no Komachi, loose translation by Michael R. Burch Now bitterly I watch fierce autumn’s winds battering the rice stalks, suspecting I'll never again find anything to harvest. —Ono no Komachi, loose translation by Michael R. Burch This aimlessly floating body? This reed severed from its roots? If the river offered me freedom I think I’d follow. —Ono no Komachi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Once-colorful flowers faded, while in my drab cell life's impulse also abated as the dismal rains fell. —Ono no Komachi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Alas, the beauty of the flowers came to naught while I watched the rain, lost in melancholy thought ... —Ono no Komachi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch To what shall we compare this world? To moonlit dew flicked from a crane’s bill. —Eihei Dogen Kigen, loose translation by Michael R. Burch Ceaseless chaos— ice floes clash in the Soya straits. —Yamaguchi Seishi, loose translation by Michael R. Burch Stripped of her stripling, if asked, she’d confess: “I am now less than nothingness.” —Diotimus, translation by Michael R. Burch Come, investigate loneliness! a solitary leaf clings to the Kiri tree —Matsuo Basho, loose translation by Michael R. Burch Whistle on, twilight whippoorwill, solemn evangelist of loneliness —Matsuo Basho, loose translation by Michael R. Burch Will we remain parted forever? Here at your grave: two flowerlike butterflies! —Matsuo Basho, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Air ballet: twin butterflies, twice white, meet, match & mate. —Matsuo Basho, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Ballet in the air!? two butterflies, twice white, meet, mate, unite. ?Matsuo Basho, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Come, butterfly, it’s late and we’ve a long way to go! —Basho, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch A spring wind stirs willow leaves as a butterfly hovers unsteadily. ?Matsuo Basho, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Dusk-gliding swallow, please spare my small friends flitting among the flowers! ?Matsuo Basho, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Keywords/Tags: haiku, epigram, epigrams, epitaph, eulogy, humanity, coronavirus, America, USA, health, medical, hospital, hospitals, illness, doctors, death, epidemic, pandemic, plague, mother, child, family, social distancing, life, death, numbers, numbering, natural disasters