Punishment

 

Haiku to be avoided

A fallen woman

personifies the city;

weeping, abandoned.

She's been unfaithful

to God, and all her lovers

have abandoned her.

She was exalted,

a princess; now she's become

but a bond-servant.

The roads to Zion

mourn, streets are empty, no one

attends festivals.

Grieving and groaning;

she is a desolation.

Her lot is bitter.

Enemies prosper,

the suff'ring is great: even

her children are gone.

For her many sins

Judah is left desolate;

punishment from God.

There appears no hope

in images of despair.

For that we must wait.

© Ken Rookes 2022

Defiant hope

Haiku of encouragement

City under siege,

Jerusalem, holding out

against Babylon.

Not much point, really.

The city must fall: judgement

for the people's sin.

Incarcerated:

the prophet Jeremiah,

guilty of treason.

His words of judgement

don't mesh with the narrative

of those in power.

The cousin arrives,

Keep it in the family,

he said, Buy my field.

Fiscal foolishness!

Buying land when you're facing

imminent ruin.

He purchased the field:

Jeremiah's defiant

gesture of promise.

Here, store these sealed deeds

in an earthenware jar, safe

against the future.

Some day, in this land,

houses, fields, vineyards. once more

will be bought and sold.

A symbolic act,

but more; a display of hope

in God's promises.

© Ken Rookes 2022

In anguish

 Haiku of an aching heart

He is in anguish

for his people; the prophet,

who feels their distress.

Alienated

from their God and King, who seems

to have departed.

Provoked to anger,

God questions them: Why seek you

after foreign gods?

They cut themselves off

from God, forgetting God's law,

flirting with evil.

The harvest is past,

the summer come to its end,

and we are not saved.

Their hurt is my hurt;

my people, broken and lost.

I mourn with dismay.

They languish, wounded,

unhealed. Will there be no balm

found in Gilead?

My tears have no end.

I am a fountain, weeping

for my lost people.

© Ken Rookes 2022

Nobody listens

Haiku of desolation

Desolate pictures

of a land laid waste. We watch

as it is fulfilled.

A hot northerly

is bearing down upon us;

it does not relent.

Like stupid children

not knowing what is right; my

people do evil.

The earth is wasted,

and the skies bring no light; all

the birds have flown off.

What had been fruitful

will be desert, and cities

will be laid in ruins.

It won't be the end,

but the punishment must hold;

God's mind won't be changed

Nobody listens

to the voice of the prophets;

much to demanding.

© Ken Rookes 2022