waiting
I count wall tiles
in the doctor’s office
one breath hope
the next despair
Moonbathing, 17, 2018
Marilyn Humbert
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
等候看病
我計數醫生辦公室
的壁磚
吸一口氣，有希望
下一口氣，便是絕望
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
等候看病
我计数医生办公室
的壁砖
吸一口气，有希望
下一口气，便是绝望
Bio Sketch
Marilyn
Humbert lives in the Northern suburbs of Sydney NSW Australia. Her
tanka and haiku appear in international and Australian journals,
anthologies and online. Her free verse poems have been awarded prizes in
competitions and some have been published.
The upper verse sets the tone and mood of this illness tanka while the lower verse enhances a sense of uncertainty. And in light of Ls 4&5 counting wall tiles is analogical to counting clovers and their leaves.
ReplyDeleteFYI" "The three leaves of a shamrock are also said to stand for faith, hope and love. A fourth leaf is where we get the luck from. The four-leafed clover, or “lucky clover”, is an uncommon variation of the three-leafed clover, and widely considered to be a symbol of good luck."