DAILY PHOTO: On the Trail

Taken in Himachal Pradesh in June of 2015.

DAILY PHOTO: Dzukou Valley

Taken in the Dzukou Valley in May of 2017

POEM: I’ve Seen Sunsets [Day 12 NaPoMo: Rondeau]

[A rondeau is a closed poetic form of French origin. It uses tetrameter, a half-line refrain, and rhyme schemes of aab and aabba. The first poem I ever learned by rote, “In Flanders Fields,” is among the best known English-language examples of this type of poem.]

I’ve seen sunsets in colors bright.
I climbed Phnom Bakheng for the height
to peer above the canopy.
Fire orbs dip to Andaman Sea,
and I crossed isles to beat twilight.

 

Hues: royal purple to blazing fire light
I’ve watched Midwestern skies fade to night
from a tower above the trees.
I’ve seen sunsets.

 

Seven ridges of varied might,
were stacked from tree- to snowcapped-height,
and a different scene for each degree —
as painted clouds flared windward to lee,
and I watched from an idyll campsite
I’ve seen sunsets.

DAILY PHOTO: Coastal Flowers, Varkala

Taken in Varkala in March of 2016

Flowering Haiku

hectic sidewalk
frangipani blossoms
stepped over


calling bees
scent, color, and glory
unrivaled


the hillside
when rhododendrons bloom
shangri la


for two weeks
the valley flowers,
its spell cast

 

purple circle
rings the base of a tree
regal shadow

Falling Water Haiku

thunder yon
Zambezi rafting
greenhorns beware


cataract
water wind-misted
plume-zone green


terraced hill
rice paddy cascades
depth perfection


dry season
murmur to trickle to
fall-less falls


level rising
the overspill rolls
pulling drops

Desert Haiku

offset prints
bisected by tail drag
lizard sign


gnarled driftwood,
snake skin, rusty barbed wire
in red sand


cold morning,
the rising fire ball,
a silent knell


red sandstone
warmed by the rising sun
gorge aglow


yon mirage
mirror-clear blue,
chase the lie

Haiku of Trees

mossy trees
in a foggy forest
eery squared


split oak tree
hollowed by water
chimnified


a lone tree
sits atop a green hill,
solemnly


distant trees
resemble a painting
not a true grove

DAILY PHOTO: Ramanagara Rocks

Taken in May of 2015 at Ramanagara

Agriculture & Nature Haiku

grazing sheep,
loitering head down;
what awes them?

 

rice terraces,
disguising man’s order
in nature’s green

 

ripe wheat,
bobbing in a breeze —
sea-like moves

 

on a range
that stretches beyond sight
but not mind

 

tea plantation,
a snake slithers through
amid the pickers