written on Canada Day for new Canadians
breezy sunlight
floods the ceremony room
each new citizen
singing O Canada
in a different tone
NeverEnding Story, July 1 2020
Note: The following is a prequel to the tanka above:
for naturalized Canadians
a giant Maple Leaf
in the ceremony
I answer
to my English name
with a twinge of sadness
Atlas Poetica, 21, 2015
Butterfly Dream: Court Summons Haiku by John Richard Stephens
-
*English Original*
court summons—
I carefully fold it
into a crane
*The Heron’s Nest*, 28:2, June 2026
John Richard Stephens
*Chinese Translation (Tradi...
