The Turn of a Year, the Return of a Haiku

       It was while looking for another haiku yesterday that I found Ann K. Schwader's wonderful "year's end" poem.  Having come up with that haiku and placed it on the blog, I then remembered the exact words of part of the one I was looking for, tried it out on the Internet and FOUND the new year's poem I had been searching for.

       Besides a great sense of humor and humility, Issa's sensitivity and compassion seem boundless:

                                       THE ORPHAN SPEAKS:
                                         THE YEAR-END PARTY...
                                         I AM EVEN ENVIOUS
                                       OF SCOLDED CHILDREN

So glad to have discovered and rediscovered haiku worthy to end the old year and begin the new one.  If they happen to strike notes of self-effacement on the one hand and compassion on the other, I'm thankful for both reminders as the year turns.


(This translation of the haiku by Issa is from Japanese Haiku by Peter Beilenson, which can be found here.)