Can love and Hate occupy the same relationship? Or is a Greek God’s pursuit of a nymph the same lust for power humanity has indulged for millenia?
As though Dapne had a choice. As though Apollo allowed her one.
qui tamen insequitur pennis adiutus Amoris,
ocior est requiemque negat tergoque fugacis
inminet et crinem sparsum cervicibus adflat.
Vaunted wings of love
a nymph brought to her strength’s end
by a lusting God
viribus absumptis expalluit illa citaeque
victa labore fugae spectans Peneidas undas
“fer, pater,” inquit “opem! sī flūmina nūmen habētis,
quā nimium placuī, mūtandō perde figūram!”
Soon to be pierced
a stolen glance to Peneidas
her final, uttered prayer
“Father, part this earth for me
or warp this form from me!”
[quae facit ut laedar mūtandō perde figūram.]
vix prece finitā torpor gravis occupat artūs,
mollia cinguntur tenui praecordia libro,
in frondem crinēs, in ramos bracchia crescunt,
pes modo tam velox pigris radicibus haeret,
ora cacumen habet: remanet nitor unus in illa.
her uttered prayer
skin hardens to darkened bark
and arms to brances
her legs and torso to trunk
her face the Laurel tree top
The will, ever our instrument of our openess to barbarity or grace. Daphne, choosing grace, preserved her integrity, at the cost of being Laurel. Apollo, ever that civilized Olympian, chose barbarity, possessing the Laurel evermore.
Spring day
wind-swept boughs over
sunlit waters
Is love truly possible, then?
As though Baucis and Philemon didn’t witness its truth. For what did they answer when the Gods offered them anything?
“‘auferat hora duos eadem, nec coniugis umquam
busta meae videam, neu sim tumulandus ab illa.’”
“Let not the hour
come between us at our death
nor see each other’s tombs”
In the fullness of their lives did they receive their gift.
frondere Philemona Baucis,
Baucida conspexit senior frondere Philemon.
iamque super geminos crescente cacumine vultus
mutua, dum licuit, reddebant dicta ‘vale’ que
‘o coniunx’ dixere simul, simul abdita texit
ora frutex: ostendit adhuc Thyneius illic
incola de gemino vicinos corpore truncos.
Baucis and Philemon
saw each other growing leaves
said their last farewell
and their entertwined bodies
grew to an Oak and Linden
If sharing every moment of their lives to the last isn’t love, what is?
Autumn day
wind-swept leaves swirl around
aged boughs
Share the love. Spread the haikai:
Categories: haikai, haiku community
Frank J. Tassone 
A mythical tale, so well-told! Wonderful, Frank!
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Lovely haiku, as always. And I like the way you told these stories. (I never learned Latin, so can’t comment on the mock-translations, but it’s an entertaining idea.). I think the technology has caused some mistyping; I’m betting you meant ‘barbarity’ not ‘barbity’. That being said, I like your point of view on both tales.
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Thank you, Rosemary. I thought at the time that barbity was an old contracted way of saying barbarity. Since it has the syllable count I looked for, I left it.
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Well you might be right. I knew what you meant, anyway! Next question: why count syllables in a prose section? (I’m not criticising, just interested to learn new possibilities.)
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Whoops! When I replied to your earlier comment, I thought I used “barbity” in one of my “translation” tanka! LOL!
I felt a rhythm to the prose when I wrote the line in question, and I thought “barbity” fit that rhythm. Now that I look at it again, however, I like the concurrence of “integrity” and barbarity” instead. I’ll switch it; thanks, Rosemary, for inspiring the change! 🙂
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Delighted to have done so! I agree, the barbarity / integrity thing does work better, both for sound and rhythm.
Always love your writing.
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Thanks! 😀
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The questions at the beginning of your extended haibun are pertinent ones, Frank, although I would mention that power lust is mostly a masculine trait. Sadly, the pursuit of Daphne has been repeated too many times over the course of history, and never ended well. I like the way you alternated the Latin with a haiku or tanka in English, especially Daphne’s transformation into a tree and the final haiku. I also enjoyed the final tanka with the image of Baucis and Philemon watching each other grow leaves and their intertwined bodies grow to an oak and linden.
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“her uttered prayer
skin hardens to darkened bark
and arms to brances
her legs and torso to trunk
her face the Laurel tree top,”
Sigh, such a beautiful, beautiful retelling of the mythical tale, Frank! 😀
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Thank you, Sanna! 😀
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