To cruise the seas. Ship of many with restaurants, shops, shows, casino and dancing. Playing on the waves. Yet for me, it is the moments of silence I savor. Sunset on our veranda. Leaning into the salty breeze. Pondering as body sways naturally. What lies between that place where red melds into black? Between moments in time? Between a last intake of breath and the final audible sigh? Clouds hover like memories floating through my mind. Mixed emotions. Content to stand and savor. Slow ache for loved ones faded from my life. Red streaks lessen, darkness consumes. I shiver in the suddenly cold air.
black cold red-streaked sky
Ursus lumbers to dark den
winter signals sleep
Haibun prompt today at dVerse: think about CHIJITSU, a Japanese Kaigo that means lingering day….can relate to the moments of sunrise or sunset. Haibun: prose (must be true) followed by a haiku that must, in the true Japanese sense of the form, include reference to a season. Post also applies to day 16 Napowrimo’s prompt: something to do with play. Photo taken from the deck on our last cruise around South America.
Sadly we say goodbye to Victoria our dVerse host today. She’s been a force at dVerse since its early days in 2011. Thank you, thank you, Victoria.
lillian the home poet 
Beautiful shot.
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Love the lyricism of this haibun. Favorite part of the prose passage: “Pondering as body sways naturally. What lies between that place where red melds into black?”
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Beautiful Haibun take Lillian from Napo. It sounds fun too 🙂
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The moment of dusk is so well captured here, including a sense of melancholy which I always feel is part of another dying day
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The pause defines the play. (K)
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A gorgeous photograph with amazing colours, Lill, illustrating a stunning haibun.I love the description of ‘the moments of silence…Sunset on our veranda. Leaning into the salty breeze’. Idyllic. And I love the question: ‘What lies between that place where red melds into black?’
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How lovely. I’m right there with you, savouring the silence and the movements of the wave.
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And thank you, Lillian. This is so poignant. You play with the colors like a true word artist. Those in-between moments and all that fills them, the sense of play and then loss. So good.
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Very descriptive especially associated with silence: “last intake of breath and the final audible sigh”
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Stunning photo and very reflective poem.
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I love the questions you ask in your haibun and your haiku is wonderful!
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Lovely and the pic is gorgeous!
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What beautiful words and a photo to match.
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Are we ever without mixed emotions? I love your ponderings. I savor the quiet much more than the noise. This is a beautiful haibun!
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Moments of silence to savor indeed ~ The imagery of that sunset from the cruise ship must have been spectaculor ~ Love that photo and line of red streaked sky ~
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What lies in between indeed. I enjoyed watching you suspended in time as you contemplated life. Sigh…..
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I can relate to all but the reality of a cruise. Maybe some day. Beautifully written, though!
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I really liked the thought process of your piece. The betweens made it linger on and on…. the picture was gorgeous! Well done.
dwight
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winter signal sleeps. you ended this vivid extravaganza with a contented sigh. much love!
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A beautiful and moving haibun Lillian.
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Lovely poem. I love those liminal spaces–the in between places in the sky, in memories. . .
Stunning photo!
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WOW! The photo, your words, the memories you share are all beautiful.
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Vivid and evocative, lillian! Puts me right in your locale!
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Like others – a vivid evocation of that lingering evening moment – turning away from the crowded cruise to find silence and contemplation. I liked how the piece leads to and complements the haiku – the end of day, the end of a season and the chill at the last light.
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I’ve found myself deep in these very thoughts of late as well.
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