Thin ice

thin ice –

only the moon dares

to cross the lake

 

Ion Reșinariu

 

Of course, the detractors will immediately find it reprehensible that the moon is personified, if not because it does something that man does, at least because its action is characterized as bold. And we are talking about an action that is impossible to consider for an inanimate thing. The author's intent, for the reader who tastes haiku, is obviously to prove the fragility of the ice, and to do so using the reflection of the moon on the ice. The moon is there, we see it, even if it's moving slower or coming to a halt, and the ice isn't breaking. It is a staging that is part of the easy transfiguration of what we see. It's like walking on ice. After all, it is the allegory, without which haiku has no tension and vibration. What was indexed is actually what works to make the poem authentic.

 

(Comment by Corneliu Traian Atanasiu)