For Love - Tanka

With colour and light

fragrances and sweet passion-

This moment of Truth!

Crossing my threshold - stealthily,

Love, it cleaves into my Soul!

 6 March, 2011

Syllable break up of the lines, 5/7/5/7/7


With/ co/lour /and /light (5)

fra/gran/ces/ and/ sweet/ pa/ssion- (7)

This/ moment/ of /Truth! (5)

Cro/ssing /my/ thre/shold/ - steal/thi/ly, (7)

Love,/ it /cleaves /in/to /my /Soul! (7)

Tanka, like Haiku, is again a form of Japanese Lyric Poetry.

[As you know by now, :) ] A Haiku works with 17 syllables arranged in 3 lines of 5/7/5 syllables to each line, and evokes an aspect of nature and the seasons, with the last line holding the punch so to speak.

A few Tanka here and Haiku, here and here and here



Tanka on the other hand gives the writer more space to work with – 31 syllables, arranged in 5 lines of 5/7/5/7/7 syllables each. Tanka is an older form of the lyric in Japanese… dating to 13 centuries ago, while Haiku is just about 3 centuries ago..

Tanka was mainly written between lovers, as society had accepted the fact that a man’s dallying with another woman, other than his wife was normal!! After the man departed early in the morning, he would send a Tanka to his lady love with his message of love..

Rain on...

Drop by tingling drop.
Shine, sparkle, tickle and slather.
Rush down, to meet the yearning land
Merge, soak, overflow
As do those emotions, storming
Whirling, tumbling, and then
Soothing.

Rain on, deep in the heart too.
There is too much that is parched;
That is yearning.

So that the scent of fresh love
Might, once again, draw me in
To you.


Online, on a rainy line of thought :)
22 February, 2011
It rained and rained, this lovely evening :)

Picture, courtesy, Google Images :)

Fly to You!

Cosy and warm
In the cocoon
of your love;
Engulfed,
I watch myself change!

A gawky woman,
Was I:
Unsure, chewing
upon the painful cud
on the distant horizon,
Of a million memories.

Then;
The light fell
upon me,
As you!

And;
As you spun
the magic silky strands
of tender love,

I couldn't help
but want
to be more to you,
Though you looked
beyond, and into me!

And now, am I
on the threshold:
Donning your colour
Of love,
On the wings
you gave me;

Ready,
And waiting-
And wanting-

To fly to you!

 

25 September, '07

Picture courtsey, google images :)

Purple Passion

Taut,
With quiet intensity
He held the wine goblet;
Nursing the wine
His fingers around the stem.

He watched-

The way she laughed
Uninhibitedly.

The way people
flocked around;
Just as mesmerized.

Consumed slowly by the
Surging passion within,
He never knew
When the wine spilled,
And mingled with his blood;

When the stem snapped
Between his fingers.


22 September, ‘07

Closure

As with Kundera's

Unbearable lightness of being

So with the openness

That begets such heaviness
I face blankness

The vastness of a suddenly vacant consciousness
The vanished vanquished vanity
Of an arrogant artful me
All knowing I was
Oh How I Was

Till this dot of time
A Period
To punctuate a life that flowed
Unhesitatingly, unbeknown to lightness
Of heart, Of feeling, Of being.

Lighter of my excess emotional baggage
I sag. Not lift.
I lag. And drift.

Seeking closure. That which
Will never be, seeing that
I could never
Never
Never let you go.
Ever.



19 January, 2011
Online. Assaying antithetical presumptuous nonsense :D

Manoeuvres

Adroitly
I sidestepped
The Question;

I’m not ready
Yet,
To respond,
I mumble.

Fearful, I peek
Between my lashes.

I can feel you
Withdrawing,
I think; and
Miserably wait.

I know, of course
I cannot hold out,
Either.

So why don’t I
Just give in to
A natural progression?

Adroitly, yet,
I sidestep, and
Refuse myself.

Warm hands
Cup my face,
Lifting it gently.

Looking into his eyes,
I know, I am blessed!

For, it’s there-
The unconditional patience;
The unwavering faith;
The rock like strength.

That you let me
Be me-
That is your greatest strength,
And my loving weakness!

And I cannot help,
But surrender!




20 March, 2008