IB in a creative and culturally courageous act decided to teach writing haiku in English to a class of 80 Japanese students, 14/15 year olds. Here are some of their results:
In the summer night
A very big explosion
Flowers in the sky
Summer vacation
We have a lot of homework
Why are we so busy
I love Mr. IB
He is so very handsome
Thank you very much
Motivated by all of this, IB wrote his first haiku, in Japanese, but shared with us how difficult it was to translate. The Japanese language is more precise in some ways, and vague in others, with multiple meanings and shades of inference, which makes translation nearly impossible according to our young expert.
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夏の風NA TSU NO KA ZESUMMER WIND
夢飛んで行くYU ME TO N DE I KUDREAM(S) GO FLYINGxxxxx
跳ね上がるHA NE A GA RUJUMP (UP)xxxx
So though the words are translated above, here is IB’s take on the meaning of his haiku :
xxxxx
NATSU NO KAZE
YUME TONDE IKU
HANE AGARU
IN THE SUMMER’S BREEZE
DREAMS GO FLYING FORWARD
TAKE A LEAP A FAITH
xxx
Basho perfected the practice of haiku. JB’s mother, Ida, taught him this art of poetry. I have attempted to write a haiku for each of the years JB has been alive. And now, IB takes another leap of faith.
xxxx
Translation: Life is good.
IN SHADOW
WITH CROWS
A BEAUTIFUL SHAPE
PASSES NEAR
TURNING
TO SUN
I SEE
for IB
Thank you for this.
Life is good.