Today is my birthday and I decided to learn something new as a celebration of my age, and because I still can (once you’ve survived cancer you appreciate birthdays even more). So like the devotee, “willing to go even to the ends of the earth for spiritual enlightenment” a guru appeared nearby – and at my grand age, quite by chance I was introduced to Haiku. Despite being a lifelong lover of poetry I have never previously discovered this equisite artform. “All I know is I know nothing” – Socrates.

If you are unfamiliar too:

“Haiku is one of the most important form of traditional Japanese poetry. Haiku is, today, a 17-syllable verse form consisting of three metrical units of 5, 7, and 5 syllables.”

Would you like to write you own Haiku and post me a link?

My first ever humble Haiku, which I entitle: The Wisdom of Age

On this my birthday

Cherry blossom bloom’s fleeting 

beautiful but brief.

NB: The apostrophe of omission is deliberate in order to meet the criteria of syllables (it would read: Cherry blossom bloom is fleeting, if written in full which would be one too many syllables!)

I thought this photo choice apt because the dappled shade of the blossom suggests the changing chiaroscuro of life. The blossom is also deeply symbolic since it really does bloom fleetingly – looking beautiful for just a week and echoing the shortness of life that one becomes aware of, as birthdays come and go. The still water (life giving) in the image reminds me of the sea when it’s calm, just a few minutes walk from my home – and the still calm centre within me, born from the wisdom of age.