Easter – Pâques (troiku – daily moments)

Spring is in the air
Awakens our inner child
Play, Love, Joy

Spring is in the air
Inviting 
new beginnings

Awakens our inner child
Rain or shine
Heart still skips with joy

Play - Love - Joy
An ageless mantra
For all

(c) Tournesol 2023-03-25




le printemps est dans l'air
éveille l’enfant intérieur
jouer, aimer, jouir

le printemps est dans l'air
séduisant
des nouveaux débuts

éveille l’enfant intérieur
ensoleillé ou pluvieux 
le cœur fait des sauts

jouer - aimer - jouir
un mantra
Pour tous·tes

© tournesol 2023-03-26

(c) Clr ’19

(c)Clr’16

© Clr’16 Hopeful moments

(c) ’16-05-13

(c) clr’19

sporadic visit (Troibun) Daily Moments

How I miss her nudging me...those sporadic visits.  Going for a walk, I would feel the hints of a verse, a word...a perfect moment whispering to me.  My mind always wanders...so hard to be mindful because my eyes see one thing for a moment and then she takes over with an interesting narrative. A bike missing a wheel thrown carelessly beneath a balcony.  What if it was a kidnapping and the bike was thrown here from another town?  What if it was an accident and the biker had no ID, police still looking for John Doe?  What if...indeed!!  

 I miss holding an image in my heart f then allowing it to simmer for a day or two and turning it into a watercolour  of words, three brief lines that take your imagination on to a lovely journey. Other times it can be philosophical or spiritual but definitely, with a tasteful metaphor.  
 
Since the pandemic, rather than benefit from time during those moments if isolation... inspiration changed to a very scattered mind.  Words were mixed with fear but this morning there was a slight shift ... 

Softly whispers 
Welcoming lilt 
Brief rendezvous 

 Softly whispers 
Moment in time 
wades in my soul  

Welcoming lilt 
Holding my breath
Listening to her voice 

Brief rendezvous 
Still 
breathtaking 

(c) Tournesol 2023-03-05  Daily Moments

First snowfall – (troiku) daily moments

First snowfall Nov 16 2022

snowflakes
carpets forming
spreading joy

snowflakes
adorning
bare branches

white carpets forming
like white sheets on a stick
spreading peace

spreading joy
peace
no wars!

(c) Tournesol ‘2022-11-16

No more tears (haibun)

A widow and her sons gathered with their cousins the evening before…reacquainting with each other, reminiscing their childhoods…remembering their father, their uncle, her life long partner of 68 years, who passed. They laughed, they danced, they ate a feast cousins had ordered for the family; they drank and remembered a wonderful man who touched so many friends and family of all ages. One cousin was up late downloading music her cousins had chosen to be played at the burial. Another cousin went to the florist to get roses and rose petals.

The next morning, she woke up early and went to the coffee shop to have breakfast and listened to her muse…in two hours her uncle’s ashes would be interred at the family graveside. It was cloudy but not raining and clouds were making room for the sun’s rays…

Cimetière Notre-Dame-des-Neiges, Montréal, Qc.

grey skies
beckoning
no more tears

grey skies
casting shadows
under their eyes

beckoning
softly whispers
please don't cry

no more tears
like dust in the wind
smiling from above

(c) Tournesol 2022-10-18

and then the sun appeared as if he was smiling ...

Songs:

Wish you were here – Pink Floyd

Father & Son – Cat Stevens

Tears in Heaven – Eric Clapton

My Way – Frank Sinatra

Hallelujah – Alexandra Burke

Dust in the Wind – Kansas

Poem read:

In Loving Memory of a Wonderful Man

Hello Autumn (haibun)

It’s been 10 to 12 C the past few days and today, she could actually feel a shift in the air. Windows were open all day and her two felines slept on their  carpets by the open patio door. By late afternoon, she could feel a chill and she closed the windows except for her bedroom where she enjoys the cool air under her warm duvet.

silky soft
stretching along her chest
scent of autumn
Inhaling freshness with a sigh
remembering their runny nose

nose peaking
above down feathers
breathing in crispness

© Tournesol ‘2022-09-23

Daily Moments Sept 23/22

Mid-morning calm (haibun)

(c) Clr’15 Chilling in the shade

I’m in the country this week minding my son’s dogs and cat. Heidi (German Shepherd) and Mia (Golden mix) are sisters and they are like two giant peas in a pod. They play together, sleep together, eat together but compete to get petted of course. And GiGi, the Persian could care less about those giants. She does her own thing. She loves jumping on the kitchen counter and drinking water straight from the tap and pleads with me daily. My son warned me NOT to do that since it took him months to have her finally drink out of a bowl. Since he leaves the kids for ten to twelve hours, he would not want her to dehydrate. It is so tempting  though to indulge the little thing, like Nana giving too many sweets to the grands…that is exactly how I feel with these pets.

It is a long trek to get to work for me but the peacefulness here is palpable.

birds muted

soft breeze pacifies

mid-morning calm

& 

mid-morning calm

after canine game of tag

shadow bed

(c) Tournesol ’15

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Happy Mother’s Day

(c)Clr17

It’s Mother’s Day and I keep thinking backwards and then forward…I miss my mom but i see her in me, and through me and through my children and love her for keeping her spirit alive in all of us. She is in my children and grandchildren…loving them so so much.

It’s that time of year again 
remembering uncooked chocolate pudding 
and toast in bed
each grain of powder saying, “I love you Mom” 
 ceramic paper weights 
paper doilies 
macaroni necklace…


I remember picking dandelions 
and drawing pictures, 
gluing absorbing cotton clouds 
 hearing her voice singing songs with made up words 
 laughing with delight and childlike joy
running her fingers in her curly hair 
 hugging me, whispering “I love you, darling”

(C) ClRoberts 2022-05-08

the devil incarnate (haibun)

Remember when we had to get used to saying “The Artist- formerly known as Prince”? I was trying to find a way to name that Russian president [what’s his name] similarly. I wrote several forms. I was still not satisfied. Then I looked up some names he is known for today…”Dickhead” is one that caught my attention. But the only one that seemed to fit how I felt about him today is “Devil Incarnate – formerly known as Putin”.

dogs howl in mourning
baffled by the devil's work
longing their masters

echoes of rustling leaves
trees shudder with grief

midst the smog of war
clouds form from malice and greed
STILL - Ukraine's heart beats

(c) tournesol '2022-04-03

embracing moments of joy (haibun)

 

(c) clr’2022

As we hope to approach the end of this pandemic, a month ago the world witnessed an explosion of chaos, of violence, of trauma, of one of the worse assaults against humanity…I’m not an expert on this.  I am but an ordinary person who is in her late autumn years…or is it winter? Well, it is not spring or summer, so you figure it out.

Watching the news is a cat and mouse affair for me.  I want to be in the “know” but most days I can no longer handle it.  I know I need to be fresh and together so my heart is open to be filled with trauma, sorrow and the multiple questions from a confused generation of youths and young adults.   And so I watch the news 3 days a week to keep some balance in my heart…my mind.

I cry for youths.  I cry for my children and their children…heck, I cry for anyone who is younger than me and so many of their dreams are in question.  I weep out of fear, worry, disappointment with the world and how we have become split in so many ways…more than I have ever seen in my lifetime.

I have lived a long full life without the chaos we are faced with now but my heart aches especially  for children, teens and young families all over the world.

I have been trying to  embrace brief moments of joy…I heard a flock (gaggle)  of geese honking over my building at sunset last week…the sound made my heart beat just a little faster. My geranium is blossoming so much as it stretches out towards the sun in my bedroom window…embracing moments of joy, my feline stretching in the sunshine and my granddaughter talking to me in “her” language that is music to Nana’s ears.

 

don’t cry little one
the sun is shining today
hear the geese honk

April rains wash pain away
the sun will dry your cheeks

chin up little one
skipping rope and chanting rhymes
oh! sweet merriment

(c)tournesol ‘2022-03-30

Friendships (haibun ~ troibun)

Valentine’s is supposed to be about love and couples but since I had my children 4 decades ago,  it was more about LOVE for anyone who is very special to you, especially my immediate family. 

I remember cutting out Valentine cards to share at school to those “special people” …if it was someone, we had a little crush on, we did not sign it. I also helped my children cut theirs out as well and in this generation, they seem to include more people.  I am hoping that is indicative of the world we now live in…to be kind to one another…to show support and caring.

The media shows us the opposite because unfortunately “tragedy sells.”  Yet, with all that has been going on in the world in the past two years, I am sick of giving attention to sadness, cruelty, and hardships. I am not saying I want to live in a bubble, but I/we DO need balance…knowing about kindness and how wonderful many people have come forward to help one another warms my heart and that too should be in the media…not just an addendum at the end of the news.

One thing I have loved doing in the past few years is writing my own greeting cards and sending them out to some friends far and near…mostly friends who live alone like me.

I do not know about you but when I get something in the mail, I get so excited…I run upstairs and put the envelope on the dining room table and make myself a cuppa tea and then I sit down and savour it. Sometimes it is one line and other times it is a bit longer but the fact that someone cared enough to write something on paper, put it in an envelope, sealed it with love, addressed it with care and attention, put a stamp and walked or drove to drop it off in a mailbox means so much!

I had another selfish reason to do this as well. It inspires me to write a poem and talk in writing to a friend, and forcing me to walk to the nearest mailbox which is 1 km away…so it is also beneficial to my physical and mental health to walk which is something I have not done much this winter especially since my fall early in January. It made me wary of walking on icy sidewalks.

I often try to spread out the cards so I have to go out more often. 

This is a troiku (new form of haiku created by Chevrefeuille, at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai I wrote a few days ago, that made me think of my friends this valentine week.

 

greyness lingers
lockdowns hold us prisoners
when will winter leave?

greyness lingers
looking for a bit of light
shining in my heart

lockdowns hold us prisoners
soon the days shall pass
Oh, see the light shine

when will winter leave?
thankful for a caring friend
brightens every day

© tournesol 2022-2-11

 
la grisaille s’attarde
les confinements emprisonnent
l’hiver nous quittera quand?

la grisaille s’attarde
mon cœur s’alimente à la poursuite
de la lumière

les confinements emprisonnent
bientôt le jour va paraitre
voilà, luminescence

enfin l’hiver nous quitte
enchantée d’une amie dévouée
égaiera chaque jour

© tournesol 2022-2-11