A Haiga By Miyamoto Musashi: Shrike Perched On A Dead Tree Branch Poem by Dennis Ryan

Tuesday, December 20,2011; Tuesday morning, February 16,2021

'For it must never be forgotten that simplicity and brevity have meaning only because this is a world of multifariousness and complexity.'
- R.H. Blyth, Haiku, vol.1

'The Void is where there is nothing, no form.
The Void is good, and contains no evil.'
- Miyamoto Musashi, Go Rin No Sho (The Book of Five Elements) , composed near the end
of his life, in a place named 'Reigando',1640-1642

'... but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.'
- Sun Tzu, The Art of War, Part Four

Painted in black brush strokes,
a shrike perches just above the fork
of a long, dead branch. It looks
out over a landscape that ends
abruptly at the painting's edge.

The brush strokes at lower left
rise up to the shrike at top center,
then disappear into the void.
The haiga is a combination
of basic brush strokes.

The shrike is a small bird of prey
with a hooked bill. It appears
to be waiting for something to happen,
and if nothing, it will fly to another
branch as birds chance to do.

The shrike knows only self-preservation.
It has a form, but no values.