Bonsai & haiku

Over ten years ago, where we then lived, there was a mountain ash, or rowan, in our garden. That meant that every summer, when I went out to weed the garden, I would weed dozens and dozens of baby rowans from the flower beds and lawn. I'd come in and boast how many trees I'd felled!

I have a love-hate feeling over bonsai trees. Deliberately stunting the growth of a tree seems cruel and unnatural. On the other hand, look at how many trees I threw away every year. So, this one I saved. Each spring it looks lovelier and lovelier as it matures. Nevertheless, my enduring discomfort about the bonsai concept and process persists, hence my haiku - combining two Japanese arts:

There is no comfort
for branches void of song-birds:
these are Bonsai trees.

poem © Celia Warren 2011

(The tiny dwarf, standing on his head beside the tree, is not quite typical of Japanese ornaments for Bonsai gardens!)