haiku #32818
the warmth of springtime
payment for a long winter
life awakening
the big thaw come spring
good things come to those who wait
it pays to be patient
during Eastertide
I visit dead relatives
to pay my respects
© Rebecca Sanchez 2018
The image is my photography animated from my bike rides on the Bay Trail in San Mateo, CA.
A trio of haiku written with Haiku Horizons for the prompt pay.
![imageedit_4_3864398654[2]](https://capriciouspoet.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/imageedit_4_386439865422.gif?w=863)
Empty
Standing at the graveside I smell loss
the warm Autumn day turned damp
as the fog danced and swirled about
like ghosts of the past encircling
grieving relatives rend their garments
weeping openly while the children
huddle at their feet.
The rain fell harder
tapping on my shoulders
each drop reminding me
he’s gone, he’s gone, he’s gone.
© Rebecca Sanchez 2013
This poem was written about this picture prompt.
Tanka…Nobe Okuri 野辺送り
a neighbor’s
funeral in new year week
fluffy snow flowers
from heaven
falling on his coffin…
©2018Rika Inami稲美里佳
My answer:
haiku #1518
snowflakes from heaven
a winter coat of sadness
covers his coffin
© Rebecca Sanchez 2018
Rika Inami is a well-known tanka poet who writes in her language and English. She takes walks in her native Japan taking photos and composing tanka about them. She’s also a friend of mine and a very sweet lady.
She posts her work daily on Google Plus and if you answer her work she’ll post it on her blog. This was my answer to her photo (above) and tanka.
![imageedit_158_2000993072[2]](https://capriciouspoet.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/imageedit_158_20009930722.gif?w=863)
Secrets From The Soil
Egyptian mummies
rest in beautifully decorated sarcophagus
some inlaid with gold and gemstones
bodies prepared with spices and care
organs put into decorated clay pots
sealed for thousands of years
until found and studied by museums
spilling secrets from the soil
causes of death and life revealed
visualizing every feature and amulet
some mummies stand naked in groups
some are left as they were found
we see the faces, foods, and belongings
of these ancient people from our past
teaching us about life while celebrating death
while death teaches us about life.
© Rebecca Sanchez 2017
Written for dVerse~Poets Pub hoping I’m not too late since it’s Wednesday! I’ve been very busy not meaning to take off weeks of writing but I’m back. Life has a way of just happening while time flies. This is my animation of an image I found for the poem. Soil brings us so many things!
Kiss Of Death
So beautiful and rare
in death a kiss so fair
it makes the corpses jealous
their eyeless sockets stare.
An eternity in your arms
my angel wings boned bare.
© Rebecca Sanchez 2015
Another blast from the past (something a little different) shared with Poets Untied. This is a wallpaper meant to be shared and had no artist information like most wallpapers found to share online.
Sin Eater
Oh sin eater, come today
come to where my loved one lay
he was easily led astray
help him cast these stains away.
Bread and wine upon the breast
of my darling laid to rest
half a shilling paid to thee
eat this meal and set him free.
Ameliorate this funeral feast
take on the sins of my deceased
allowing them to be released
so that my love may rest in peace.
© Rebecca Sanchez 2016
Written with Magpie Tales and Imaginary Garden Of Real Toads.
Denouement
I am alone, askew,
naked as I first came into this world.
Flesh numb and nearly forgotten
I can smell the rotting vegetation
hear water nearby.
A deep peace comes over me as I
am liberated from the corporeal.
I can almost hear the ones that went before me
guiding me into the twilight.
You may have known this face, these hands,
maybe enough to call me friend.
This body has been loved and called lover
but this soul has passed.
Do not mistake the shell left behind…
as me.
© Rebecca Sanchez 2015
Capricious Poet 