arousing my senses

Dear friends and followers,

At Carpe Diem Haiku Kai (CDHK) we are on a journey through the Altai Mountains. Once the silk road ran straight through this region and our guest host at CDHK, Hamish Managua Gunn, has written a wonderful post about this silk road. You really have to read that post (as I may say so). I wasn't inspired enough to write an all new haiku in response of that post, so I dived into my archives and found a few wonderful haiku which I love to share here with you:

arousing my senses
the sweet coolness of silk blankets
shared with my love

silk tree blossoms
in a soothing summer rain
trembling in silence

trembling in silence
silk tree blossoms, so fragile,
in a summer breeze

© Chèvrefeuille

 

I had never heard from the Silk Tree, but it is really a beautiful tree. See for yourself.

 

Credits: Silk Tree

 

I love to share also a haiku composed by one of the four famous haiku poets, Buson, in which this silk tree is mentioned:

amenohiya madakini kurete nemuno hana 

a rainy day
quickly falls the night -
silk tree blossoms

© Yosa Buson


And to conclude this post inspired on the silk road I have two other haiku from my archives:

snow falls softly
the statue of Buddha covered
in white silk

kimono slipping
fingertips discover silk road
ecstatic sigh

© Chèvrefeuille

Well .... see you next time.

the music of the steppes

Dear friends and followers,

It has been a while that I published here at my personal weblog. As you all (maybe) know I am Always busy with my daily haiku meme Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. This weekend however I have a guest host Hamish Managua Gunn (a.k.a. Pirate), because I needed a weekend off. Hamish published his first post yesterday (November 13th) and told us more about a wonderful musical instrument, the Kobyz, a violin-like instrument with two strings and played with a 'fiddlestick'. It's a wonderful instrument, but maybe you ask your self ... what is a kobyz and where those it come from?

It's a musical instrument from Central Asia especially the region of the Altai Mountains. This month at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai we are on a journey through this beautiful region following the path of the shamans. For the shaman the kobyz was a sacred musical instrument and according to legends it had the power to banish evil spirits. Listen to the following piece of music, this is how the kobyz sounds:

As I read the post by Hamish I really was in awe ... I had never heard from the kobyz, but as I listened to several videos in which the kobyz is been played I was "sold" to this wonderful musical instrument. I used it to meditate and contemplate about "how to write a haiku inspired on the kobyz, as I listened to the music I felt wonderful and relaxed and inspired I wrote the following haiku:

sound of the earth
an eagle points the path of the shaman
finally free

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... I hope you did like this post. By the way if you have time you have to tune in on You Tube and listen to the music of Kazachstan .... really awesome.

2018 July: Re-published on Carpe Diem's Summer Retreat 2018