Haiku

Since I've received a couple of encouraging comments, kindly asking me to post more of the now fragmentary fables I wrote all those years ago, I am now going to foist upon you another of these. The tale below was written based on the Japanese tradition of 'haiku' poetry. Japanese tales are, as everything else about that wonderful culture, short, mysterious and to the point. I found them achingly beautiful, which is why I wanted to try my clumsy hand at writing a story in that style. And here it is...


"The Lover

As he stole his way closer to his beloved's chamber, he could hear the soft lilt of her gentle song, and the quiet shuffling that told him her whereabouts in her room.

Finally he was there, only a small screen separating him from the object of his passion. He bent his head gently towards one of the small openings in the screen, and carefully put his eye to it. Inside in the profound gloom of the lady's bed chamber, he could just make out the shapely curves of her pale body as she undressed. Excitement and anticipation nearly driving him till he thought he might go mad, he whispered to his love a poem he had prepared for exactly this moment, and had been rehearsing ever since that beautiful day when he first set eyes on his love at the great Lord Terunaka's gempuku for his Second Son, Jiro Takeda.

He sang softly to her, saying

Even more than in my days gone by
When I did not know you,
Oh, Green leaves of the willow,
More than ever, this morning
My thoughts are troubled

The lady, meanwhile he could see had stopped moving around and was listening to his song. At this thought his heart leapt nearly to choke him, and he felt around in his kimono to find the love token he had prepared for her, and, calling to her, passed it through the lattice of the screen, and spoke to her more of his undying yearning to be with her. The lady, who was named Haru, and was the youngest daughter of Lord Terunaka, softly replied that three nights hence he may enter her bed chamber, but for now he must be patient. As he was about to leave curiosity got the better of Haru, and she called to him saying "What is your name?"

The young man came back and whispered that his name was Saburo, of the Shenshi clan, and was a warrior in the service of the great Samurai Shenshi Yoshimoto. With that, stealthily the young warrior stole away into the night, as though he had never been there.

Two nights and three days Saburo struggled against his rising passion, and inspite of the urging of his companions, refused to visit their regular inn, where the most beautiful geishas could be had for very little money and a great deal of pleasure. He was determined that his night of love with the Lady Haru should be an affair of fire and brimstone."


haiku n. pl. hai-ku, also hai-kus

1 A Japanese lyric verse form having three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables, traditionally invoking an aspect of nature or the seasons.
2 A poem written in this form.