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
Copyright © Michael Burch | Year Posted 2020
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