I will walk the path,
– Rikuno
while stepping on the re-iced slippery road timidly.
This is haiku. Haiku is a kind of short poem originally started in Japan.
This is the original in Japanese style haiku and the pronunciation.
歩こう
– Rikuno
おずおずと堅雪を
踏み踏み
[How to pronounce]
Arukou
ozu-ozu to katayuki wo
fumi-fumi.
Now add a note.
My feeling is that this haiku represents indecision or wavering by the author when she was deciding her path. Walking on an icy road is quite slippery and not easy. However, if there is a place we want to go over there, we have to go across it.
This haiku might give us a negative impression because it indirectly expresses that the speaker has an indecisive mind.
However, the most interesting point is that this haiku is about spring and hope. Also, that’s the reason why I thought the above. Haikus require a word related to a season as a rule. The word is called a “season word”. In this haiku, “re-iced road” is the season word. And the season this word indicates is spring.
Let me tell you something about the season, spring in Japan, which comes after winter. Spring is the next season after passing through a cold and dark period. The point is this haiku also represents a kind of hope by taking this season word.
If I may add another point, this, like hope, is in fact nothing more than an uncertain something in her unpredictable future. Despite that, using it as a metaphor for hope means her firm decision to get over anything.
Haiku by Rikuno