The Great Wall – Haibun – February 17, 2015

Original Photo by Jakub Hałun (Wikimedia)

Under the shadow of the wall which stretches for miles and miles, I walk. Down in a  nearby valley a farmer with his oxen works his hilly spring fields.  Flowers blooming fill the air with a soave perfume, a mixture of honeysuckle and fresh turned earth.  Going up the steps, I enter one of the numerous  towers that raise periodically along the wall and contemplate the elevated road of the wall. I can look for miles and miles across the vast countryside.  On the one side, China and the other the “barbarous” outside world and could only feel marvel at the wondrous feat that is the Great Wall of China.

that stone dragon
winding through hills and dales
silently vigilant

© G.s.k. ‘15

I’ve always wanted to visit the “Far East”, the land of dragons and the Tao, to walk the Great China Wall, the forbidden City and see the clay soldiers in all their glory. I’d also like visit the temples of Thailand and japan … but I think probably I’d only really like to do this in my dreams, far from the realities of the twenty-first century.

I love to challenge you to write a haibun (prose and haiku) in which you describe a journey (it doesn’t need to be a real journey you have undertaken) to a place you would love to see once in your life. For example, I would love to visit Japan once in my life, but I think that will not happen, but I can (of course) make that journey in my mind and dreams.

 

A Rooster Crows … Carpe Diem Haiku Family