Tanka Poem: Thorny Desires

Grasping his desires

He noticed his hands bleeding

Checking why he found

That he is holding sharp thorns

Pain—he let go of his dream

The Japanese tanka is a thirty-one-syllable poem, traditionally written in a single unbroken line. A form of waka, Japanese song or verse, tanka translates as "short song," and is better known in its five-line, 5/7/5/7/7 syllable count form.

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