Gabriel Rosenstock’s Tanka Series – 2
1.
the hummingbird is away again
in a flash, beloved
where did it go
teach me never to stray
far from Your radiance
2.
to see You, beloved
through other eyes
eyes of a different kind
eyes of extinct species
beings we have yet to know
3.
is not each hour
a preparation
for the final hour
Your name on my lips
what else could it be
4.
ah! store You away
as the squirrel stores its horde
or enjoy You in the now
empty hazelnuts of long ago
only their emptiness remains
To read more Tanka by the same author click here
About the Author
Gabriel Rosenstock is a bilingual poet (in Irish & English), haikuist, tankaist, playwright, novelist, short story writer, essayist, translator, writer for children and champion of ‘forlorn causes’ – the phrase is Hugh MacDiarmid’s. He is a Lineage Holder of Celtic Buddhism and a member of Aosdána (the Irish academy of arts and letters). Among his awards is the Tamgha-i-Khidmat medal (Pakistan) for services to literature. Gabriel’s most recent volume of poetry is Glengower: Poems for No One in Irish and English (The Onslaught Press).
