SENRYU #1: Freedom

Continuing my own experimentations with a variety of different verse forms, here is attempt at a SENRYU . . .

Senryū is a Japanese form of short poetry similar to haiku in construction: three lines with 17 morae (syllables). Senryū tend to be about human foibles while haiku tend to be about nature, and senryū are often cynical or darkly humorous while haiku are more serious. Wikipedia

FREEDOM

Longing for release
Knowing how Bonivar felt
I await freedom

N. B. Bonivar was the ‘The Prisoner of Chillon’. ‘The Prisoner of Chillon’ is a 392-line narrative poem by Lord Byron. Written in 1816, it chronicles the imprisonment of a Genevois monk, François Bonivard, from 1532 to 1536. Wikipedia

Released Into Life

Life lacks lustre
And my world is grey;
As it re-awakes,
Is it here to stay?

I’ve slumbered long
In my cocoon,
Sheltered and shielded
‘Neath a midday moon.

Spring with its joy
Struggles to bring
Its warmth and colour,
Its song to sing.

But after the storm
The clouds disperse;
I await with hope
To end my verse.

Lockdown 3: Day 52

‘Hope’ (after Michelangelo) … WHB Pencil 1958

Sun comes with morning’s news
Bright sky floods the straightening horizon
And gloom disperses with the waking day
My tunnel view widens its purview
Funnels its Richard Of York colours
Revealing improving prospects
Pleasure-principled and hope-led
If-Only hopes
Offering release
Instead of regret
Along with a reinstituted Plan
Of Action
End of inertia
Perhaps and possibly
Depending on This and That
On Doubt and Uncertainty
On Doubt or Certainty
These Will-We, Won’t-We times
Tremble on the brink
Promising nothing
Yet
Delivering Hope
To our nebulous days