tanka attempts

Ginpasulat kami ka dya kauna kang college sa amon Japanese Literature class... kag amo dya ang akon nakuris 🖊

Tanka is a classic form of Japanese poetry related to the haiku with five unrhymed lines of five, seven, five, seven, and seven syllables. (5, 7, 5, 7, 7)

18 September 1997

In my paper world

No one dared to smooth the crease

My hand-painted sky’s

Stained with tears and smeared with blood

I alone bewept my state.*

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Dewdrops wet my feet

As I watched the morning sun

And like the grasses

Wet are my lashes with tears

The day you gave me a child.

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The rustling of leaves

Falling from the bough I cling

Blown by the soft breeze

Though winter is yet to come

Will you paint me a rainbow?

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*a reference to Shakespeare