Sunday, February 4, 2024

Butterfly Dream: Funeral Haiku by Rachel Sutcliffe

English Original

funeral over
my shadow
walks alone

Runner-up,  BHS Museum of Haiku Literature Awards, February 2018

Rachel Sutcliffe


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

葬禮結束
我的影子
獨自走路回家

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

葬礼结束
我的影子
独自走路回家


Bio Sketch

Rachel Sutcliffe had suffered from a serious immune disorder for over 16 years; throughout  this time writing had been her therapy, and it kept her from going insane! She was an active member of the British Haiku Society and has been published in various journals including  Prune JuiceFailed Haiku and Hedgerow.

1 comment:

  1. A sense of loneliness is poignantly conveyed through the jux. of the "funeral over, L1" and the "speaker walk[ing home] alone, Ls 2&3" without comforting companions.

    And the choice of this verbal phrase, "my shadow"/not I, "walks alone," adds symbolic significance and emotional weight to the haiku.

    And the following haiku could be read as a prequel to the one above:

    we talk
    about survival rates
    winter sky

    cattails, 1, 2014

    Rachel Sutcliffe

    ReplyDelete