The weather shifted suddenly. For weeks, I walked along the tree-lined path with Sakura. She and I wrapped warmly in our love. Mother ignored the almanac’s provisions, coaxing cherry trees to bloom again. Shades of pink daring to be seen among branches stripped bare in their dormant season. They did not understand, the calendar progresses relentlessly.
And so I walk alone today, Sakura gone. Cold seeps into my bones and the sentinels of this path. New fallen snow blankets branches and lands upon my face. But it is not a comforter to me, nor to these delicate blossoms, still life in this winter scene.
She shall shroud your love
like new fallen snow upon the bark
and the buds shall be stilled.
Word Count: 131 including title. Posted for Haibun Monday in Dverse Poets Pub. Haibun: a Japanese poetic form that includes prose followed by a haiku. Haibun frequently includes fugetsu (natural scenery) and kaketoba (use of words with double meaning). Sakura is the Japanese word for cherry blossoms and also used a woman’s name. Comforter can be a blanket or someone who comforts. Still life refers to a painting (as this photo almost is) and to dying. A Haibun should also include an eternal truth or a theme that can be understood by many. Photo Credit: copyright Kanzensakura all rights reserved – Used by permission. With apologies to Toni: I just went back and read your prompt and it indicates this is a quince blossom. I looked and immediate saw cherry blossoms!
You’ve included traditional elements nicely but also revealed the harsh reality that winter weather will kill this still life.
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Thanks so much for the read. Glad you liked it. This is a fascinating form to work with.
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Best thing i love
about poeTry
iN pictures
iS human
bEinGs shaRinG
more than teXt
onLiNe.. iNow..
Rare iS A
face Real
iN Poetry..
Photos tale
more..
hUman pictURe..:)
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thank you for the read and reply!
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My pleasure..thank you..:)
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This has a soft sadness about it. It is beautifully penned.
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Thank you for the lovely reply. I am so glad you liked it. Such a beautiful photo — and I’d never heard of a habun — a wonderful poetic form.
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Ah the Cold Queen called Winter! I liked this very much.
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Winter personified…..you’ve got it! Thank you so much — very glad you liked it and I thank you also for taking the time to reply.
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Of course. 🙂 Hope to see more of your work at Dverse.
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Your poem felt authentic. It captured the eternal and the equivocation. Lovely.
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Thank you so much Gay. Glad you liked it. Happy I am.
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I can feel the chill in my bones (as its winter outside my windows too) ~ Sadly all the blooms are gone too ~
A lovely haibun, thanks for joining in ~
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Thank you. So happy to find this group. Shall be participating more.
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I feel the harsh return of winter… and the cruel destiny of bloom… so often it can happen… and also works as a metaphor for me… and this being your first … I think you are hooked on haibun,
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Glad you entered into the prose and poem — feeling the harshness and destiny. Yes — I am definitely hooked on habun! (If only my autocorrect wouldn’t keep changing it to “habit!”)
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Ha. and it’s haibun… 🙂
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wow, lyric, sad and yet soft, I love your use of the phrase “still life” which takes on so much more meaning where you employ it. 🙂
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ah you are correct! Didn’t even catch that one to list in the explanation….double meaning meant but forgot to mention. Will correct that. So glad you liked it, Melinda.
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You’re welcome 🙂 I try to catch all your poetic gems, hidden and otherwise 🙂
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You’ve incorporated the various aspects of the form so well in this poetic prose and stunning haiku. So glad you are here at dVerse, Lillian, and I hope to see a lot of you.
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Many thanks for your kind welcome. Truly appreciated as are your kind words here. I am enjoying the group immensely and considering I’d never heard of a haibun, I’ve learned a lot already! 😊
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You really took our haibun lesson to heart and did a marvelous job. Still life is such a perfect title for your wintery, bleak write. Welcome to dVerse, Lillian. I look forward to reading more of your offerings.
Gayle ~
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Thank you so much for the warm welcome and such love words in your reply. Had never heard of a habit so already, I am learning a lot from dVerse. Enjoy reading others words — enjoying the group a lot! Many thanks for the read and again, for the kind words here.
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A lovely poignant sense of wabi sabi here. I enjoyed reading this.
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I am learning so much in my interactions here — wabi sabi: a Japanes world view or aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. The transience of Sakura here… his female friend and the cherry blossom frozen in time. Thank you for this lovely reply!
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I am learning about this form and the Japanese aesthetic all the time too. 🙂
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I feel the sadness in this. Winter stills life for a time, but eventually it will return. And blossoms will bloom again.
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Thank you for the read here Mary. Had never heard of a habun – have only been writing poetry since Feb 1 of 2015 and just recently found this wonderful group!
Loved using the double meaning words here…especially Sakura as his female companion’s name, knowing it is also the name for the cherry tree. Really really enjoyed doing this one and am so glad to find this pub! 😊 so nice to chat with you this morning over my morning cup of coffee!
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Very lovely, very romantic.
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So nice to meet you, Rosemary, over my first cup of morning coffee. And thank you for the very nice reply! Many thanks!
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