Chen-ou Liu's Translation Project: First English-Chinese Haiku and Tanka Blog

Monday, September 30, 2013

Colors of Loneliness, A Haiku Sequence

a corridor that runs
off into infinity
Mom! I'm coming home

Moon Festival ...
the attic and I share
a day of rest

running away
from myself and my shadow
the smell of formalin

grief knocks
the wind out of me
drifting snowflakes

New Year's dinner for one
I pick up the chopsticks
and yet … and yet …



Notes:

1 The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival in the West, is the second most important festival celebrated by the Chinese people, and it is held on the 15th day of the 8th month in the Chinese calendar, during a full moon.

2 "formalin: a clear solution of formaldehyde in water. A 37% solution is used for fixing and preserving biologic specimens for pathologic and histologic examination."

NeverEnding Story, August 14th, 2013