SEASONS in Haiku
by Enrique del Rosario, Seattle, 1973

The monsoon rains end.
In the mud I see no prints
left there by my friend.

Now young rice shoots grow.
I think of yesterday and
where dead soldiers go.

Back home corn is high.
Old men drink to young men who
they've sent out to die.

Cold winter sunset,
snow covers all. Now we are
learning to forget.

Haiku: poetry that evolved in Japan, containing a tercet of syllables - five in the first, seven in the second, and lastly, five. It has as its basis an image, an emotion, and a season, in statement or innuendo. Last of all, though it is complete in itself, the Haiku must leave one to think of what must lie beyond the words, imagery, and emotive utterance of the poem. [delrosario]