FIVE HAIKUIn this exhaustion
I could sleep a thousand years--
It won’t be enough."Talk is cheap," they say,
Yet what a price we must pay
For man’s ignorance!Oh señorita!
You look so lovely at night
When the moon is out.Oh this raging sea!
In its vast expanse I find
My inner freedom.If only this rose,
Opening in the sunlight,
Were your sweet caress!
November 16, 1999
--Alexander Shaumyan