listen to silence

Snow falls noiselessly from a windless sky, alighting on back deck and fence post, shed roof and fallow field. We can feel the gathering of snowflakes but cannot hear their conversation. Rabbit tracks crisscross white breast of winter.

Spring crocus push through snow’s crust soundlessly, if not effortlessly. Green spears surround the hardy stem. Bright purple petals display golden stamen and pistil. Life is determined to bloom and reproduce beauty.

Dark eyes watch intently, soft nose wriggles. Wild rabbit moves stealthily on fur-boot feet. No rustle of leaf, no snap of stick, just a flicker of movement and flash of cotton-ball tail. First a twitch, then a hop, final sprint beneath spruce.

earth tilts toward sun
far side of moon holds silence
seasons change places

_______

Haibun Monday at dVerse Poets, hosted by Frank Tassone

silent (pause) paws

 

shadowed rabbit tracks

blue moon illuminates snow

coyote’s eerie howl

 

keen nose follows scent of prey

end is mercifully swift

 


Chèvrefeuille at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai invites us to find a haiku from our archives and re-write it. I decided to post a haiku I submitted to a poetry contest last year…and make it a tanka.  Death is part of life in our natural world.

where walk takes me

 

I’ll walk down our gravel road, usually alone with God, or sometimes with my neighbor and her boys. We chat along the way and soon we’re back home. I used to take my husky…or she used to take me (I miss my fast and furry companion). I walk a mile or two for the exercise and fresh air.

Other times, I’ll meander through our grove of trees sheltering our house and farm buildings. I go to tune in nature, clear my head and calm my heart. I listen to bird calls, admire the foliage stage of the trees or mushrooms in the grass, and perhaps pick up sticks blown down by our last wind storm. 

A bold rabbit hops closer and pauses to observe me observing him. Long ears twitch before he hops for cover under blue spruce. A black-bibbed flicker tap taps in tree until I pass below; he bobs and flits away. I startle a handsome ring-necked pheasant which whirs up, startling me. Bending down, I pick up a perfect robin’s egg that fell out of the nest, unbroken.

 

oak trees hold old leaves

prairie winds buffet farm grove

birds mourn fallen nest

 

 


Bjorn inviting us to take a walk with dVerse Poets this week…

scared hare day

IMG_4490

photo by lynn

 

 

summer’s last litter

rabbit’s heart patters fast beat

sudden departure!

cottontail tale

Link to Carpe Diem‘s “completing the haiku” just for fun…build on 2nd line given.

 

velveteen rabbit

dancing in magic moonlight

plush toy becomes real