English Original
bombing resumes—
the collared doves return
to our garden
Tim Dwyer
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
轟炸再次開始—
一群斑鳩重返
我們的花園
轰炸再次开始—
一群斑鸠重返
我们的花园
Bio Sketch
Tim Dwyer’s debut full collection of longer poetry, Accepting The Call (templarpoetry.com), won the Straid Collection Award. In 2025 he was among the Europe Top 100 Haiku Authors. His poetry appears in Irish, UK and international journals. Originally from Brooklyn, NY, he lives in Bangor, Northern Ireland.
L 1, "bombing resumes—", establishes a large-scale human violence, while Ls 2&3 shift to the intimate and natural: "the collared doves return / to our garden." The contrast creates tension without explaining it. This haiku simply presents two facts, allowing readers to discover irony, resilience, indifference of nature, hope, or even dread.
ReplyDeleteOne subtle complexity is that the doves' return can be read in opposite ways:
1. Nature persists despite human destruction.
2. The bombing has become normalized enough that even the birds return.
3 The "doves, symbols of peace," arrive precisely as violence resumes.
This ambiguity is a strength.