Sunday, April 10, 2022

Butterfly Dream: Cancer Ward Haiku by H. Gene Murtha

English Original

cancer ward --
a get-well balloon
in the trash


H. Gene Murtha 


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

癌症病房 --
一顆早日康復的氣球
在垃圾桶裡

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

癌症病房 --
一颗早日康复的气球
在垃圾桶里


Bio Sketch

H. Gene Murtha, a naturalist and poet, sponsored and judged the first haiku contest for the inner city children of Camden, NJ., for the Virgilio Group, of which he was a lifetime member. He was widely published for his work in haikai literature from the USA to Japan. 

1 comment:

  1. L 1 sets the scene/theme while Ls 2&3 show acute helplessness, then loss, and even anger experienced by someone whose loved one's life is lost to cancer.

    Here is my haiku sequence to document the stages of losing someone:

    Chronicle of a Death Unfolds

    half moon rising ...
    each day she slips
    further away

    hospital window
    the light of the dying day
    on her face

    cancer ward
    at the end of the hallway
    blinking EXIT

    winter moonlight
    on the indented pillow --
    her hospice room

    the way
    she tapped my shoulder ...
    pattering rain

    NeverEnding Story , January 23, 2015

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