New Year's Eve

old year, new year....
one soul newly arrived
one soul soon to leave

tamashii no katsu umare katsu saru kozo-kotoshi

Debra Woolard Bender
Japanese Romanji translation by Susumu Takiguchi

Haiku published in World Haiku Review, HYAKU-NIN IKKU (One Hundred Haiku by One Hudred Poets Project), January 2007

The above haiku was written about my newest granddaughter's birth, and my 89 year old father-in-law's cancer (his cancer went into remission, but he doesn't have much longer in this world.)