Seasonal Haiku

	Boys and girls are now Anticipating Christmas Humbug is the word Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho Santa Claus does not exist Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho From Christmas crackers Comes a plastic leaping frog— Basho’s pond’s missing Night of Christmas Eve Few cars, a filling station— The outskirts of life Christmas Eve, dark wood— Dripping rain, mantras chanted Beneath the old oak Cold Christmas wind shakes The trees, the same lanterns that Decked the oak last night
Finally, a haiku that started from the experience of standing on Nacton Shore on the evening of Christmas Eve, but actually reflects someone else’s experience: my wife’s, on night duty at the Royal Liverpool Children’s Hospital, Heswall, on the Wirral, at New Year over thirty years ago.
	Night of New Year’s Eve, Watch lights across the river— Another country

No Christmas for frogs,
They are busy all year round—
Pond splashing duties.