This tanka is for Colleen’s challenge that I keep forgetting to write for. The words to include are
Peace & spirit
Photo ©Tobiasvde
No peace in the waves,
their restless, rolling spirit
sinks hope, a wrecked ship.
But I watch the grey gull soar,
plucking my dreams from the wind.
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Jane, your message in this Tanka was melancholy but so moving! I loved the mood you set with the prompt words. I feel the winds and can see the ocean. Wow! I am blown away! ❤
I’m glad you like it, Colleen. It’s quite a challenge to get that switch in emphasis. It is for me, anyway 🙂
It is for all of us but that is what really makes it a good Tanka. The Japanese Royalty knew what they were about. Your Tanka is exceptional. It really moved me.
I’m pleased. Time of year probably, but thoughts have turned melancholy.
Maybe that is why it spoke to me. I don’t do Christmas. It’s a hard time for many of us. I’m there with you. ❤
I’d like to ignore Christmas completely but the children wouldn’t understand. Cheers Colleen 🙂
Ahhh, I’ve got you. My children ignore me now so it is easy to dismiss Christmas. Wish I could make it better for you. ❤
I don’t do presents. I don’t spend money because we don’t have it to spend, so the idea of spending money just for the sake of it is anathema to me. Present giving when it’s something bought just for the sake of having something to give is not just ridiculous but it can be hurtful. Although my children are old enough not to worry about having a whole heap of presents, they still insist on wasting the little money they have on stuff nobody really wants. I hate the whole wasteful overindulgence of it, the long faces when something isn’t exactly what was expected, the false pleasure in something that will never be used. Ah well, a couple of weeks and it will be over.
I thought I was the only one that felt that way. Christmas should be about the religious aspects (I’m Buddhist) of the holiday. Instead, it’s morphed into this commercialized craziness. I dread it every year. Soon it will be over and we can move on.
I celebrate the winter solstice instead. We decorate the house with green branches, holly and mistletoe and have something good to eat and drink. E basta. Christmas is just a chore. I refuse to do the spend bonanza so it’s pretty low key, but we live with the dread that our ringleader daughter is going to whip all the others into a spend fest. As you say, not long until it’s over.
I love the idea of celebrating the winter solstice and that goes along with my belief system anyway. Bravo, my friend. I think you are courageous standing for what you believe in. ❤
I imagine the date of Christmas was chosen to align itself with an earlier pagan celebration, it was the date of the solstice in the Roman calendar. All that commercial clap trap is very hard to deal with. Good luck with your end of year, beginning of new year celebrations 🙂
Happy Winter Solstice, Jane. ❤
Thank you 🙂
Reblogged this on O LADO ESCURO DA LUA.
Well done tanka, Jane! It is melancholy, or perhaps restless, like the waves. But then, it could be hopeful at the end. Are the gulls plucking the dreams to make them vanish, or to make them soar? (Ever the optimist, right?) 🙂
I hoped the gull was making them fly. Optimistic for once—taking a leaf out of your book 🙂
🙂
Birds are definitely a balm for the spirit. (K)
Some would say they are the spirit 🙂
Yes.
Love this. I feel I’m standing outside seeing this, what a picture you paint in words.
That is a huge compliment coming from you. Thank you!
You are welcome. The poem really just hit me as I read it. Emotional to me.
There is something very close to magic about the way gulls glide out to sea. Who could help being moved by what it represents?
Jane, our conversation prompted these thoughts on my Mindful Monday post on my other blog: https://amindfuljourneysite.wordpress.com/2016/12/19/mindful-monday-have-yourself-a-mindful-little-christmas/. I just had to share with you. ❤
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Colleen. I sympathise completely.
Absolutely stunning.
Thank you 🙂 I like the way this one worked out.
It’s Awesome… Loved it.. 🙂
Thank you! Colleen’s tanka prompts can work wonders 🙂