I climb the step ladder into the loft dropping on the way up one of my Homer Simpson carpet slippers that the kids bought me last year. The struggle to find the light switch. As usual I marvel aloud at the contents making a mental note to finally sort things out catalogue my huge record collection check if the old reel-to-reel tape machine still works and to put some more floor boards down. Here's the box. I won't take a peek until we're down again in fact not until we're downstairs in the kitchen.
forty springs
my son and I watch
the tortoise blink
Little Onion
The tortoise, a symbol of longevity. No wonder it's blinking... Good omen.
ReplyDeleteYes a good omen.
ReplyDeleteThe tortoise's name is Gerald. He was actually bought for my wife when she was a little girl. I never let my children look in the box until I have checked he looks alive.
I just read of a tortoise that has just died at an age of over 200 years old - now that is longevity!
Little Onion
(I notice that i have had a post on hares and now one on a tortoise...)
Little I was moved by this post, for emotional reasons,
ReplyDeleteand then this wonderful
surprise, at the end,
"forty summers
my son and I
watch the tortoise blink"
forty springs reminded me of this haiku, partly a play on words, but more of a note on time, and a cat and mouse game, alas no tortoise was involved in the making of this haiku.
ReplyDeletefourteen summers
the glue remains
of a paper heart
The Haiku Calendar 2004
Snapshots Press ISBN 1-903543-07-X