English Original
childhood memories
the fast-flowing stream
never to step in again
Asahi Haikuist Network, May 2, 2025
Natalia Kuznetsova
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
童年記憶
湍急的溪流
再也不會踏入
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
童年记忆
湍急的溪流
再也不会踏入
Bio Sketch
Living in Moscow, Russia, Natalia Kuznetsova is a teacher of English and freelance interpreter. Before discovering the haiku world, she wrote poetry in Russian. She started writing tanka and mostly haiku in English in 2007, and participated in numerous competitions worldwide and won some awards. She contributes regularly to World Haiku Review, Asahi Haikuist Network, Daily Haiku, Poetry Pea and other traditional and on-line publications. She was included on the list of "European Top 100 Most Creative Haiku Authors" from 2010 to 2023.
L1 sets the theme and mood while Ls 2&3 are layered with multiple meanings:
ReplyDelete1) On a personal level, it could be a past tragic event or experience associated with negative feelings that returne uninvited as flashbacks
or
2) On a philosophical/reflective level, it could be about "loving, losing and letting go"
No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.
-- Greek philosopher Heraclitus
I suppose in the end, the whole of life becomes an act of letting go.
-- Yann Martel, author of "Life of Pi"
And it might be interesting to do a thematic comparison reading of my haiku below:
alone with the sound
of water flowing over rocks ...
this childhood river
Plum Tree Tavern, September 22, 2023