English Original
reincarnation
each raindrop
lost at sea
Haiku Commentary, June 21 2016
Martha Magenta
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
轉世投胎
每一滴雨
迷失在滄海
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
转世投胎
每一滴雨
迷失在沧海
Bio Sketch
Martha Magenta lived in England, UK. Her haiku and tanka has appeared in a number of journals, and anthologies. She was awarded Honourable Mentions for her haiku in The Fifth Annual Peggy Willis Lyles Haiku Awards, 2017, and in the 71st Basho Memorial English Haiku Contest, 2017, and for her tanka in UHTS “Fleeting Words” Tanka Contest 2017.
Here we have not only the philosophical concept, but we can add the simple dictionary definition of reincarnation: “cause to appear in a new form.”
ReplyDeleteFor me, I drop the philosophical implications (for haiku purposes) and think about the work and cycles of nature, causing appearances in a new form.
L1, reincarnation, in relation to water gives rise to the imagination of
many new appearances, such as clouds, icicles, steam, or being revived by a splash of cold water (in the face) when you’ve fainted, or become hysterical. Restoring the balance in nature; is there hysteria in the natural world? It seems there is a lot of it in the animal kingdom.
L2, the poet narrows the view to individual raindrops, raising questions in my mind such as, how vast is this “nature” that we are part of, and are we inextricably linked to all things, never to leave the cycle; we can change appearances, but can never leave.
L3, is a little jolt in “lost at sea” which leaves us wondering if we even know what we are part of. It is a juxtaposition of possible questions
without clear answers; there are no strict boundaries in the waters and the boundaries that do exist are in a constant state of change; gaining new form/appearances.
I love this little surprise and the mood that it gives to the haiku and reader. There is a true feel of being “lost,” “insignificant,” and “humbled” by all that is.
Martha connects the haiku with an image of rain on the sea. As usual, I didn’t include the image so we can focus on the word-mood and build our own internal images from this exemplary poem.
Thank you Martha for sharing this one and for approaching the depths of such a concept as “reincarnation.” It’s a power word, for sure, but you have used good taste and selection of the accompanying words, therefore the haiku works well. Bravo!
– Edwin Lomere, "Martha Magenta’s Reincarnation," accessed at https://haikucommentary.wordpress.com/2016/06/21/martha-magentas-reincarnation/
It might be interesting to do a thematic comparison reading of the following haiku:
Deleteoff the stone
drop by drop the sea returns
to the sea
Haiga: Illustrated Haiku Poems, 2000
Djurdja Vukelic-Rozic