Red and White Meditation
by KC

Disclaimer: I do not own the ninja turtles.

Summary: Leonardo duels someone on Christmas Eve, described in a series of haiku

~

on a skyscraper
ignoring the drifting snow
as the duel begins

New York winter frost
ice blowing across the skin
the katana's edge

two clans, two fighters
the paper lantern moonlight
catches flashing steel

dripping red petals
cut camellia blossom
sinking in soft snow

red calligraphy
turns to ice on white paper
a silent farewell

satisfying cold
solitude follows him down
shroud of loneliness

home, family, friends,
red lights on a white pine tree
with friends but alone

warmth does not reach him
candles reflect in his eyes
flames trapped within ice

end

note: camellia, a winter flower, falls all at once, not petal by petal. Haiku poets likened it to a head being severed by a samurai sword -- from The Classic Tradition of Haiku: an anthology from Dover