Dogwood (Haiku)

imprisoned in ice /
the dogwood’s veins flow with sap /
under cold wren feet //

This post is written for Carpe Diem’s Use that Quote#3: Mahatma Gandhi.   The quote is:

“You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind” [...]
– Mahatma Gandhi

This was quite a challenge because we were instructed to write a haiku – meaning there needs to be a focus on nature – but there is no obvious “nature” in this quote.

I’ve always loved the images of Gandhi spinning – but what is the significance of the spinning wheel?  During India’s struggle for independence, Gandhi urged the people to boycott foreign-made goods. He urged everyone to wear khadi – homespun cloth – and to spend a little time every day creating the material. He even invented a portable spinning wheel to encourage more people to participate. Wikipedia says the strategy was meant to instill discipline, to weed out the unwilling, and to include women (at a time when it wasn’t considered “respectable” for women to participate in political movements).

All images: Wikipedia.

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