Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans. We often attribute this quote to John Lennon from his "Beautiful Boy" lyric but the idea is traced back to Allen Saunders in a 1957 Reader's Digest article. But it bears repeating because my little plan for the weekly 52 Haiku just got sideswiped by the events of life. I did this #21 exercise two weeks ago but life drama intervened quite harshly.
I found myself suddenly helping one of my best friends deal with a seriously crazy life crisis involving his partner with sudden memory loss and possible head injury, the result of which is my upcoming trip to Nashville to drive to Charlotte to help them locate their lost dog. My friend said we will be like Daphne and Fred solving the mystery of finding Scooby. This has all been complicated by an eye illness. My parents have also been visiting from Cleveland to see my new house and that trip has been complicated by their health issues and struggles to get around. I've been feeling heartsick on many fronts for many days.
Sometimes loss isn't specific but a general sense of life's sad entropy. Anyway….for now…another haiku…
The Prompt: Dealing With Loss, Part 3
Again this week's prompt comes from the Zen by the Brush book by Myoshi Nancy O'Hara.
"The old pond,
A frog jumps in–
The water's sound"
– Basho
First task is to sit for a meditation on that for 5-10 minutes or however long you feel is good to you.
The Drawing
My Haiku
…inspired by my drawing:
The famous old frog
Making noise again in the pond
Keeping me awake.
The Reflection
Monsieur Big Bang really laughed at my frog drawing, unable to decipher it. My earlier versions looked like two cartoon forks jumping into a pond.
Basho's old poem has been rewritten so many times. I blogged some years ago about the book "One Hundred Frogs" which looks at many of the more known translations of the poem. At different times in your life you hear that splash differently, as if your heart and mind were the pond itself.
Now it's your turn…
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