The many faces of love

Illustration of ai ki by Alexandra Vansteenland

Bodies and minds meet,
leaving me weak in the knees,
harmonising life.

This haiku echoes the many faces of love. My love for aikido taught me about all kinds of love. Interestingly, love in Japanese is ai. It is a homonym, a word that sounds like ai in aikido, 合 as in 合気道, but does not look like it: 愛.

 

| Excerpt from the author’s doctoral dissertation: p. v. |