The Herb Farm Press Spring 2026 Haiku Competition
We recently challenged you the discerning tea-drinker to write spring themed haiku in return for a tea of your choice, and some of you have boldly taken up that challenge!
A haiku is a short three line Japanese poem, most often depicting a moment in space, time and, specifically, season. Sometimes, in English haiku, a strict number of syllables are used per line (usually 5-7-5). This forces a writer into a brevity that highlights how fleeting, fragile and momentary life is.
Haiku has many links to tea culture. In fact, Japanese writer Okakura Kakuzō describes tea in much the same way as others describe haiku, describing tea as “a worship of the imperfect, as it is a tender attempt to accomplish something possible in this impossible thing we know as life” and an “adoration of the beautiful among the sordid facts of everyday existence”.
So, without any further ado, here are some haiku for you from our tea-friends for this spring equinox 2026! They have all earned themselves some tea!
Looking at the oak
and the tall ash in the hedge,
which will leaf out first?
— Chris
First burst of sunshine
breaking the dismal raindrops,
verdant shining life.
— Janet
Icicles to dew,
bulb and seed shoot for the sky,
bloom and grow anew.
— Tash
Frost melts. Molehills rise.
Planting her finest seedlings,
mother chose this soil.
— Janni
I yearn for the spring.
Still, Canadian tears freeze -
the sun still slumbers.
— Jay
Delicate petals bloom;
songbirds sing to the morning sun;
joyful lambs dance.
— Sally
Flower's sweetest sip,
longing for bud to blossom
here, the buzz of spring.
— Andy
