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

Tuesday, June 30, 2026

Drifting in White Ribbons Tanka

Re-Homing in the Maple Land, XLIII
written on Canada Day Eve

twilight mist
drifting in white ribbons
over the river ...
thoughts of staying or going
tangled in my immigrant past



FYI: This could be read as a sequel to the following gembun

Re-Homing in the Maple Land, XLII


A new life in this promised land of milk and honey, where my veil of forgetfulness drapes like a shroud.

shoppers come and go
“I used to be” in the folds
of my Walmart smile



This gembun could be read as a sequel to my tanka below:


at winter twilight
should have, could have, would have
are a boulder
rolling down the hill of life
I push it up, and yet ...

Gusts, 39, Spring/Summer 2024


This tanka could be read as a sequel to my tanka prose below:


The Point of No Return

On the day of my emigration to Canada, a land of maple leaves and snowflakes that will eventually bury my past.

a parting
of summer clouds
mother
lets go of my hand
. . . and of my heart

Ribbons, 16:1, Winter 2020