Haikuna Matata

by Michael Dylan Welch

Haikuna Matata!

What a wonderful phrase

Haikuna Matata!

Ain’t no passing craze

It means no worries

For the rest of your days

It’s our problem-free short poetry

Haikuna Matata!

Why, when he was a young haijin

He found his haiku lacked a certain appeal

He could clear the kukai after every meal

I’m a sensitive soul, though I seem thick-skinned

And it hurt that my friends never stood downwind

And oh, the shame

Thought of changin’ my name

And I got downhearted . . .

Haikuna Matata!

What a wonderful phrase

Haikuna Matata!

Ain’t no passing craze

It means no worries

For the rest of your days

Yeah, sing it, kid!

It’s our problem-free short poetry

Haikuna Matata!

Previously, and mercifully, unpublished. Originally written in May of 2020. I've since learned that in 2018, Al Lafrance privately published a haiku collection titled Haikuna Matata.       +