the summer wind
carries the smell of nectar
and sweet expectation
guns go silent
an arm with three watches
bangs on the door
I found the inspiration for this haiku in the famous picture by Yevgeny Khaldei you can see below. It shows two Russian soldiers on the Reichstag building in Berlin in may 1945. The picture was put in scene and was meant to celebrate the glorious victory of the Russians troops. However, when taking a closer look, you can see that the soldier in the bottom of the picture is wearing a watch on both wrists. He probably got the second one through plundering or ransacking bodies. Not exactly the behavior of a glorious victor. The watch on the right wrist therefore was gummed out of the picture, and it went on to win the Pulitzer Prize.