little feet
dipped in rice batter --
years now
since you walked away
with our laughter
Skylark’s Nest Winner, Skylark, 3:1, Summer 2015
Shrikaanth Krishnamurthy
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
一雙小腳
浸泡在米糊裡 --
自從你離開
並帶走我們的歡笑
幾年已經過去了
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
一双小脚
浸泡在米糊里 --
自从你离开
并带走我们的欢笑
几年已经过去了
Bio Sketch
Shrikaanth
Krishnamurthy is a psychiatrist from Bengaluru India, living in
England. A trained vocalist and a composer in Indian classical music, he
writes in Kannada, Sankethi, Tamil and English languages. His haikai
writings have been published in reputed journals and anthologies and won
prizes, worldwide. He is currently the Editor of Blithe Spirit, journal of The British Haiku Society.
This small gem introduces us to the South Indian custom of dipping young children’s feet into rice batter and watching themleave footstep imprints behind in celebration of their deity’s birth. The suggestion of happy people and joyous times is made by the poet in these first two lines. The final three lines are very dissimilar in tone yet echo the image painted in the preceding lines. Years have passed and the children have “walked away” from their parents, but this time they have taken the laughter with them. The parents are left behind, lonely and mute. This tanka packs a lifetime of emotion into its short form, and Iwas very impressed by the image used to close the tanka. It captured perfectly the deep sense of loss experienced by so many empty nest couples
ReplyDeleteNote: In South India, as part of celebrating Lord Krishna's birthday, there is a tradition of drawing tiny footprints in the home by dipping little kids' feet in rice batter and planting their feet on the floor/ or getting them to walk.
-- excerpted from Skylark, 3:1, which can be accessed at http://skylarktanka.weebly.com/uploads/1/5/0/0/15008670/cs_6x9_skylark_31_summer15_a.pdf