HAIKU
Definition: A haiku is a short poem that uses imagistic language to convey the essence of an experience of nature or the season intuitively linked to the human condition.
Notes: In Japanese a typical haiku has seventeen "sounds" (syllables in English) arranged five, seven, and five. Most haiku in English consist of three unrhymed lines of seventeen or fewer syllables, with the middle line longest, though today's poets use a variety of line lengths and arrangements. (Source: The Haiku Society of America)
I love the challenge of generating as much meaning as I can into as small a space as I can, which is why haikus are one of my favorites.
Enjoy, Rich Doyle
"Rainbow"
God paints us a bridge
to cross from dark times to light;
its called a rainbow.
"Critics"
The altruists of
criticism are rarely
willing receivers of it.
"Pious"
When you paint yourself
pious, your canvas will soon
be hypocrisy.
"Heavy Heart"
Shoulders carry weight
that pales in comparison
to a heavy heart.
"Trust"
When you lose something,
on occasion it returns.
'Trust' is rarely one.
"Helping Hands"
When extending hands
to lift up a stranger, you
also lift yourself.
"Baby Steps"
Baby steps lead to
minor tumbles and bruises.
Leaps lead to hard falls.
"Deeds"
Furrows of life's seeds
are not sown in wealth or greed,
rather through your deeds.
"God"
Believing in God
seemed so much easier when
He believed in me.
"Fear"
Facing fear reveals
that fear itself is faceless.
Bravery's soon conquered.
"Loneliness"
If in solitude
one befriends themself, truly they
are never alone.
"Happiness Lost"
Happiness is lost
to those who persistently
shield themselves from it.
"People Change"
People sometimes change,
not from their alterations,
but my acceptance.
"Darkness"
When facing darkness,
standing still might keep you safe,
but you go nowhere.
"Leopard Spots"
A leopard in a
zebra-skin coat only hides
its spots for so long.
"Wisdom"
When the years behind
surpass the years remaining,
wisdom finds refuge.
"God's Sculpture"
To form me like clay
would be useless; my hardened
soul requires chisels.
"Freedom"
I found true freedom
when I became my own judge
rather than others.
"Lost Treasure"
I have lost treasures
and wealth, but I lost the most
when I lost myself.
"Choice"
Freedom of choice is
either a privilege, or
burden: it's your choice.
"Fraud"
My mirror shouts "Fraud",
and when confessed to the world
she shouts back "Me too."
"Betrayal"
Of the many wounds
suffered, none cuts deeper than
that of betrayal.
"Burning Down"
Building yourself up
by burning others down leaves
you reaking of soot.
"Land of Solitude"
Land of Solitude:
Where masculine masks are shed
and tears of men bled.
"Enemy Within"
I keep my friends close,
but my enemies closer,
for they are within.
"Feeding Dogs"
Keep feeding a dog
that bites, and either lose the
dog, or lose your hand.
"Gossipers"
Gossipers see all,
hear all, but rarely know all:
Truth reigns defeated.
"Helping Hand"
When you lend a hand,
you also lend a heart and
miracles follow.
"Work in Progress"
Maddening artists
are not haunted by life, but
by missing brush strokes.
"Mountain Views"
Would there not be a
mountaintop if it weren't for
the valley's and plains?
"Change"
I can't change the world,
but I can change me, and that
just might change the world.
"Novel Life"
I shall live my life
like a great novel whose end
shall be penned by me.
"Mud Slingers"
When mud starts slinging
pigs will wallow, but only
fools choose to follow.
"Garden Gate"
Sometimes a closed gate
may keep misfortune out, but
locks the good in.
"Oblivion"
Some seek fortune, and
others seek fame, but most just
seek oblivion.
"True Friendships"
One need not seek out
true friendships, for in the end
true friendships seek us.
"Portal for Grace"
Until a heart's wound
becomes a portal for grace,
Love finds no refuge.
"Serendipity"
Friendship's not hidden
agendas or goals, rather
serendipity.
"Rare Artist"
Rare is the artist
that replicates on canvas
God's originals.
"Internal Peace"
When internal peace
seeks its own derivative,
simplicity beckons.
"Tranquility"
Tranquil majesty
derives not from outer peace,
rather inner peace.
"Beauty"
Derivatives of
beauty are not external,
rather internal.
"Intolerance"
Lack of tolerance
of intolerance is in
fact intolerance.
"Victory"
Defeat is erased
when external efforts meet
internal desire.
"Religious Sleeves"
When religion is
worn upon a stranger's sleeve,
watch their other sleeve.
"Haiku"
I wrote a haiku,
five - seven - five syllables,
but I ran out of......
"Drama Queen"
In the Kingdom of
Chaos, drama, like peasants,
follows its true Queen.
"Mute"
The mute says nothing
when logic and reason falls
upon a deaf man's ears.
"Two Poles"
It's tough hanging at
the Equator, when others
bounce between the poles.
"Dog Bites"
When a dog keeps biting
a wise man realizes:
Stop petting the dog.
"Blind Man"
Sometimes a blind man
sees more clearly than a man
with perfect vision.
