HAIKU
A HAIKU is an ancient Japanese type of classic three-line proverb, or poem constrained to seventeen syllables. Five in the first and last lines with seven for the middle line. They can be formatted in the English idiom but the number of syllables makes them very limited, and difficult to compose.It is interesting to note that the vast majority of modern Haiku do not conform to this classical tradition of 5-7-5. It is an added bonus if the writer can incorporate a rhyme or two into the Haiku.
The collection that follows comprises ten sets of ten Haiku each they are sometimes known as “Huddles of HAIKU.” The following “Radical Haiku” total ten Huddles of Ten comprising 100 haiku and together with the one hundred poems comprise “The Century Collection”
HUDDLE 1
While the acorn drops
The eagle sees, the deer hears
But the insect eats
Time and tide are slaves
To no man, but all men are
Slaves to each other
The most selfish men
Argue most logically
About climate change
You may not possess
Wealth, but you can aspire to
It's cheap illusion
No one can fathom
The full and true design of
Their own destiny
Animals possess
That virtue of innocence
Which we humans lack
If it's worth doing
Do it badly, if you can't
Seem to do it well
At any time one may
Practice forms of poetry
The noblest of arts
Life should be counted
In years, not seconds, minutes
Moments, hours, or tears
God let's anything
Happen to just anyone
Anytime or place
Audio Version
HUDDLE 4
Two men staring out
Prison bars; one sees darkness
The other sees stars
Beauty is skin deep
But beauty is how we sense
The world we live in
If you seek the Light
You may need to delve deeply
Into the darkness
Wherever you are
Death will never forsake you
He's your closest friend
Never imagine
God cares for your happiness
His aims are nobler
I am astounded
How easy life is for some
And hard for others
Blood is not thicker
Than water but simply much
Harder to wash off
All life slowly sinks
Like a beautiful sunset
Into quiet darkness
Riches do not lie
In wealth, but rather rest in
The bosom of health
We must all suffer
For without pain there can't be
Any compassion
Audio Version
HUDDLE 7
Like the planets gaze
On the stars, I was born to
Worship from afar
Prayer does not change
Anything; it changes God
And he changes things
I learnt long ago
That my loyal friend fate was
Just really my foe
God alone decides
When some man or creature dies
Where their spirit lies
Life is mapped not by
Latitude or longitude
But by suffering
One life and one death
Life is death's preparation
Death is simply Gods'
Faith is just the root
The stem that prospers is hope
The flower is love
Though in deep distress
With life a mess, I sense my
Spirit will re-fresh
We always ask God
For too much, always settling
For far too little
To recognise Good
You may need to encounter
Forces of Evil
Audio Version
HUDDLE 2
May your spirit thrive
To survive life's storms, so your
Eyes may shine with peace
It is written that
All men will die in time, but
Few will really live
Envy is cancer
Of the soul, eating spirit
Leaving bitterness
When lost in shadows
Seek the surrounding light that
Casts them over you
Envy the young their youth
But naught else for that is all
They really possess
God created us
For the invention of his
Pleasure and his love
Our noblest virtue
Loyalty, should reign supreme
Except for honour
Every persons life
Betrays a silent vacuum
Only God can fill
The only freedom
On this earth is achieved by
Freedom of the mind
If this world remains
The same, then all its creatures
Will surely perish
Audio Version
HUDDLE 5
It's not the present
That drives men mad, but rather
Fear of the future
Pride is what we like
To see mostly in ourselves
And least in others
Madness in others
Is not as frightening as
Madness in myself
Just think with your heart
To reach the right decisions
And not with your head
The poor hate the past
Lose all hope for the future
And loathe the present
We are but martyrs
To those who follow and who
Will never know us
To achieve greatness
You do not simply achieve
You simply believe
God always decides
Who enters your life but you
Decide who leaves it
Life is simply not
Just full of difficulties
But great challenges
You can't choose those things
Which fate decrees you believe
They, in fact, choose you
Audio Version
HUDDLE 8
Ingratitude is
The enemy of Virtue
And the friend of Pride
An eye for an eye
Means simply and finally
Everyone goes blind
It's not suffering
That makes one doubt one's faith, but
Senseless suffering
Though you move mountains
With little love in your heart
You and God must part
Sanity is just
A matter of degree but
Wisdom offers truth
Mans faith grants not grace
But his strength of search, on earth
In this human race
Forgiving others
May be hard, but forgiving,
Yourself, much harder
Character when fed
By suffering is led, to
Hope, when faith is bred
Even a stopped clock
Is right twice a day; so don't
Dismiss anyone
We are probably
Not the first prototypes, but
We may be the last
Audio Version
HUDDLE 10
The essence of life
Is God, whose essence is Love
To live, you must love
Pride is an excess
Of power, but true Evil
Is excess of Pride
The way we destroy
Our own species, separates
Us from animals
Fear God and not men
To find the wisdom in Life
Wherever you can
Did powers benign
Make birds sing so fine, or did
God, who gave them wings
Animals return
Much more love than they receive
Humans, so much less
Wisdom can just be
Not knowing all the answers
Each and every time
We are sparks, that float
In darkness, glowing briefly
With glimmers of light
What good is wisdom
If you cannot apply it
To any knowledge
Poems lasts forever
Great buildings and monuments
All perish with time
Audio Version
HUDDLE 3
Single lives flicker
In the stadium of time
Like swarms of flashbulbs
Without Faith you can't
Please God, even with that great
Virtue, Charity
Carelessness combines
With callous indifference
To create cruelty
Everyone was made
To express a side of God
That no-one else can
The stairway to sin
Is steep and dangerous, yet
Easy to travel
Hate will grow from fear
On the poison tree of life
And its fruit is death
We often weep for
Pity, pain and even shame
But seldom for joy
Experience gives
Knowledge and Wisdom in Life
But books may deceive
If you won't believe
In God, it does not mean He
Won't believe in you
Forget birds and bees
Flies and fleas all prove to me
That God must exist
Audio Version
HUDDLE 6
Realities born
Within the dreams of life join
Desire to vision
I want to hate God
For giving man Dominion
Over animals
Human emotions
Stem from either sacrifice
Or pure selfishness
Do not spend your life
Searching for God, but instead
Wait 'til he finds you
Sense it in others
Loneliness is palpable
See it in yourself
You may hide a while
With a smile, but you can't hide
When crippled inside
It's nobler to feel
Too much emotion in life
Than feel too little
We are all destined,
For each and everyone was
A plan in God's mind
Try and aim to live
With dignity, rather than
Simply die with it
If you are happy
In this world, you're either sick
Silly or just blind
Audio Version
HUDDLE 9
The shortest distance
Between two points is simply
A nervous breakdown
Hurt can cause Anger
Which can generate Courage
Which can inspire Hope
Love that sings is Praise
Love that leaves is Affection
Love that gives is Grace
Faith and fear will steer
In different directions
The fate of us all
Each passing moment
Is another chance to change
One's life completely
Everything that lives
On this earth was created
Just for God's pleasure
The most beautiful
Things must be felt by the heart
Neither seen nor heard
To further ideas
We must face opposition
Or else we stagnate
To animals relate
Or God will seal your fate, for
All he did create
Would a loving God
Cast hordes of Muslims away
Though to Him all pray