English Original
Milky Way
a pile of ash
still warm
The Mamba, 9, February 2021.
Nikolay Grankin
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
銀河系
一堆灰燼
仍溫熱
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
银河系
一堆灰烬
仍温热
Bio Sketch
Nikolay Grankin was born in 1964 in Tuapse, Russia; he now lives in Krasnodar in the south of Russia. He is keen on learning English and writing haiku. He has been writing haiku for about eleven years, three of which were spent writing haiku in English. His haiku have appeared in online and print journals in both Russian and English. His haiku has won several awards in several haiku contests.
This haiku effectively captures the “haiku moment” through an internal juxtaposition reminiscent of classical renku, placing two seemingly unrelated images side by side.
ReplyDeleteThe contrast between the infinite, cold expanse of the Milky Way and something small, tangible, and earthly—a pile of ash—creates a quiet but powerful tension. This shift in scale, from cosmic to intimate, deepens the haiku’s emotional resonance.
The phrase “still warm” anchors the haiku in the sense of touch, suggesting a fire that has only just gone out. This immediacy subtly echoes the fading or “dying” light of distant stars, linking the human and the cosmic in a fleeting, almost imperceptible way.