(untitled)#70

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like the waves I tried

but somewhere along the way

lost my heart to stone

cast away to sea only

pushed up on a distant beach

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Continue reading

(untitled)#69

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you leave me again

in a kaleidoscope world

ten thousand visions

each a mirror reflecting

fragments of a broken dream

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(untitled)#68

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through its setting pall

ten thousand people come to watch

rats to the piper’s call

I follow – but left behind

stand wistful upon the shore

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Continue reading

(untitled)#67

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everything is dust

lose one way – find another

weep with happiness

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In response to Magical Mystery Teacher‘s haiku – Teacher Continue reading

(untitled)#66

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an open window

Teacher, you saw me

one minute there …

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Ninja Training

Waking very early, my young son calls me to his room because he’s seen “… a deer-fly on the land-rover”.

There is no land-rover: was this a dream? “No”, he says, “…over there on the radiator”.

There is no deer-fly. I put on the lights and search the room.

No fly.

Sensei wakes, joins us and tells how they, on waking early a few days earlier, unable to sleep, walked to the coast. Sensei says we should go – “We should all go!”

My son, unprompted, says we should go using ‘stealth’. He “…has been practising stealth…” to slip between here and there.

I reveal to my son our Ninja heritage. Our afternoons out doing Archery is really weapons training – our Ninja family weapon of choice. I tell him his siblings have already embarked upon their Ninja training, but that he is yet to start. Perhaps he is now old enough to begin.

I suggest that we should use our early morning walk as an opportunity for my to start his Ninja training – and we do!

 

 

 

In dark-silent paths we moon-light walk

Where shadows tread and quietly talk

Of stealth and movement freeze and dance

Between the sleepers each flows a chance

We stop and look then quietly ride

Undetected twixt each tree’s shadow-slide

To arrive at last where we will reach

This night’s lesson – upon the beach

Not leaving footsteps upon the sand

We walk and run and jump and land

Our only witness the roaring waves

The towering dunes and quiet glades

Quick-silvered moonlight – each wave-crash

Drowns our movement and each bright flash

Distracts the attention of one that strolls

At this early hour, but away we roll

Not silent – muffled and mistakes lost

Amid the crash of wave-foam tossed

As cicada announces the coming day

Inland we slip with the pale sea haze

With steady sureness as dew’s drip

With the breeze to our home we quietly slip

And all the way play our silent games

You crouch by the bamboo – my shadow framed

But coming our way – why it’s Superman!

With his cape he sways onwards feeling grand

Looking up from his stop, feeling fully relieved

Superman meets two Ninja’s – why you’d never believe!!

That moment we choose to step into the light

He stops startled – a moment – considers the sight

Black figures stand frozen invoking power stance

Ninjas! This day and age – just what is the chance?

His Adam’s Apple suppresses his up-rising fear

He considers his life and just what he holds dear

With a tear in his eye, he blinks, shaking his head

The ninjas have gone … if they ever existed

“Gotta stop drinking this stuff ” – stumbling on

Looks at his bottle and then he is gone

22/08/2013