I carry a lot of haiku around in my head, a sort of "traveller's companion", ready to unpack and enjoy if I am on a train, or a long 'plane ride, perhaps.
This haiku saw me travelling by train to Paris for a machine learning conference, arranged by Microsoft. I sat in the dark as the train went through the "chunnel" from England to France, my stomach filled with the warmth of a good Chinese-style porridge, made by my dear wife - heavy on barley. Hence, this haiku: though I travel quite a bit these days, perhaps several times per month, I always carry a warm feeling from home along with that mental library of haiku.
The image that makes the haiga is the charming "Mdm. Rousseau and her daughter", by Elisabeth-Louise Vigee-le Brun. I have been through the Louvre a few times before, and always get caught by those paintings that best reflect my internal state. When I was a boy, I was fascinated by the Napoleonic works by David. These days, it is the warmth of wifely and motherly love, I imagine, that causes me to prefer more sentimental works such as those by Vigee-le Brun. We have sons, not daughters, and my wife would not like to compared to the ample size of the traditional French lady, but the feeling is similar. :)
1 comment:
One of Basho's most endearing poems, for me, is:
she-cat
so thin on love
and barley
I carry a lot of haiku around in my head, a sort of "traveller's companion", ready to unpack and enjoy if I am on a train, or a long 'plane ride, perhaps.
This haiku saw me travelling by train to Paris for a machine learning conference, arranged by Microsoft. I sat in the dark as the train went through the "chunnel" from England to France, my stomach filled with the warmth of a good Chinese-style porridge, made by my dear wife - heavy on barley. Hence, this haiku: though I travel quite a bit these days, perhaps several times per month, I always carry a warm feeling from home along with that mental library of haiku.
The image that makes the haiga is the charming "Mdm. Rousseau and her daughter", by Elisabeth-Louise Vigee-le Brun. I have been through the Louvre a few times before, and always get caught by those paintings that best reflect my internal state. When I was a boy, I was fascinated by the Napoleonic works by David. These days, it is the warmth of wifely and motherly love, I imagine, that causes me to prefer more sentimental works such as those by Vigee-le Brun. We have sons, not daughters, and my wife would not like to compared to the ample size of the traditional French lady, but the feeling is similar. :)
Toodlepip,
Hobbes
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