Shinnen (New Year's Eve) - January 1, 2015

reflections
the snow flakes didn't fall
New Year's Eve

awaiting change
fireworks and feasting
Happy New Year!

New Year's morn
the world sleeps soundly
after feasting

we celebrate
a New Year's beginning
and a illusion
change comes with clocks
or pages of calendars

illusive time
today is like yesterday
the cat yawns

(c) G.s.k. '15

Below I'd like to copy some great haiku reflections by the Classical Masters:

kageboshi mo mame sokusai de gyokei kana

my shadow too

in good health...

"Happy New Year!"

toshidama cha doko wo megutte mata modoru

New Year's gift of tea--

where did you go

on your journey back to me?

(c) Issa

haru tatsu ya  shin-nen furuki  kome go-shoo

has spring already come?

I feel wealthy this New Year

with five sho of old rice

ganjitsu ya  omoeba sabishi  aki no kure

New Year's Day

I feel lonely just like

an autumn evening

(c) Basho

nanimokawara nai  mainichionaji kono atarashii toshini naru desho u

nothing changes

every day will be the same

this new year

(c) Yosakura

And from the host of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, Chèvrefeuille:

New Year's Eve

the sound of fireworks resonates 

against the snow

after the fireworks

the rustling of bare branches

nothing has changed

(C) Chèvrefeuille

Happy New Year 2015

Writing With Issa (5) "New Year's Writing" - July 28, 2014

For this post dedicated to Issa by Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, we look to Issa:

wanpaku ya mazu tenohira ni fude hajime

in the naughty child's
palm first, a brush...
New Year's writing

© Kobayashi Issa

"It is a Japanese custom to write with a writing brush on the second day of the year. This haiku was written in Twelfth Month, 1819, several months after the death of Issa's daughter, Sato, so it could be a haiku in loving memory of her."  Chévrefeuille

giggling at midnight
tired children stay awake
to greet the New Year

©  G.s.k. '14