English Original
the flicker
before its fall ...
a red leaf
Sankara Jayanth
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
墜落之前
的搖曳 ...
一片紅葉
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
坠落之前
的摇曳 ...
一片红叶
Bio Sketch
Sankara Jayanth is passionate about what haikai poetic forms allow a writer to do. Basho's haiku inspire him to look closely at nature. Issa's inspire him to appreciate all life with sensitivity. To one day write like these great Japanese masters is a life-long goal that he intends to pursue.
Sankara's shasei (sketch from life) haiku about this "process of leaf drop" (abscission) is not only visually and emotionally evocative, but also symbolically rich (this falling "red leaf" functioning like a symbol of "death struggle").
ReplyDeleteAnd my haiku below could be read not only as a reflection, thematic and generic (haiku as poetry in/of the the moment) on Sankara's, but also as a sequel:
the weight and shape
of this moment --
a leaf through the air
A Hundred Gourds, 3:3, June 2014