World Haiku Series 2021 (33) Haiku by Marietta McGregor

My haiku and photo haiga

(The haiku are all written and published in 2021)  

a basket of shells
other tides wetting 
other children

貝殻のバスケット
他の潮が濡らしている
他の子供たちを

sun shower passing
a hillside shimmers
into birdsong

にわか雨が過ぎる
丘の中腹がきらめく
鳥のさえずりに

ripe mango
that delicious shiver
after rain

熟したマンゴー
そのおいしい震え
雨上がり

winter chill
on the dog
a scent of pine

冬の寒さ
犬に
松の香り

such cold
mallards by the lake
with eyes shut

こんなに寒い
湖のほとりのマガモ
目を閉じて

diving petrels—
a piece of sea
disappears

モグリウミツバメ
海の一部が
消える

***

old beached hull
still buoying up
this flower moon

古い浜の船体

まだ浮き上がっている

この花の月

spring morning
birdsong opens
another rosebud

春の朝

鳥のさえずりが開く

別のバラのつぼみを

all the light
in a child’s eyes
unfolding wings

(Cairns Birdwing Butterfly)

すべての光

子供の目に

展開する翼

a wallaby
watching the highway
pale dawn sky

ワラビー

高速道路を見ている

淡い夜明けの空

― Translated into Japanese by Hidenori Hiruta

My short bio:

Retired botanist and science journalist Marietta McGregor is a late-comer to Japanese short-form poetry. 

Having spent much of her life explaining scientific phenomena for lay audiences, Marietta now hopes in her haiku and photographs to capture and share with friends some of the spirit and wonder of the natural world.

And some photographs of Australian flora and fauna

Australian Laughing Kookaburra

Western Australian Flowering Gum (garden hybrid)

Rainbow Lorikeet feeding on Grevillea blossom

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo eating buds of a Manchurian Pear tree (the birds like to nip off a whole twig, eat the buds like a lollipop, then drop the twig!)