Auckland Poetry.com

Senryu (Valley)

But for the beach
My valley would have been
A deep inland sea

,,,,,,,,

But for the mountain
My valley would have been
A cacti landscape

……

But for the widow
My valley would have been
A place of bliss

,,,,,

But for the old king
I hide in a vale of shame
As his bastard son

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Oskar_Hansen

When It Rains

When it rains I remember Liverpool, which isn’t
fair, ’cos it was a sunny day that the police dragged
a drunk out of the Mercy.

On the dock he was laid, the sun sunning a dead face…
too late. I didn’t see it made any difference,
his face a shade of blue.

They cremated him that took an awful long time,
a water-logged tree trunk creates a lot of smoke;
I was the only mourner.

No, it isn’t fair to remember Liverpool only when it
rains, once I did see the sun through a smoke stained
pub window.

….And it wasn’t he city’s fault that I stayed so long
that when leaving I didn’t care whether it was raining
or not.

No, I’m being very unfair, ‘cos the sun does shine,
if above a murky sky; so I really must stop blaming
Liverpool for my misery.