Dark Spaces Haiku

Snow on Branches

golden sunshine glows

fae hide in the dark spaces

writing to Santa

Copyright 2013 Brenda Davis Harsham

Sonnet to a Cabbage

Cabbage in Snow

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s bloom?
Thou art more hardy and vivid in snow.
Over charming cabbages, dark clouds loom,
Soft fall winter’s tears on curled leaf below.
Coldest days, the white sky fills with snowflakes
Their white color enhances your bolder.
The distant sun peeks, an opening makes,
Crystal sparkles enchant the beholder.
And yet, the blindness reminds of regrets,
Summer sprite and fae gardens are no more.
Gnomes and dwarves hibernate in cabbage beds,
Violet leaf consoles as we adore.
   Even when we wearily shovel snow,
   We are buoyed by your vibrant purple glow.

Copyright 2013 Brenda Davis Harsham
Note: Inspired by Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 (one of my favorites), after learning one of my readers had not read Shakespeare. 

Tree of Life Haībun

Used with permission of Managua Gunn

Used with permission of Managua Gunn

I dream here in this place of ancient magic, listening to the humming telephone wires. Oil wells beat like a thousand hearts. My roots stretch beneath the hill, into the frozen past. The dry desert sands cannot warm the hidden place where the Garden of Eden still flourishes, hidden from man these many thousand years. I was blown to this hill as a seed, more than 400 years ago.

mother lost in time
father wind threw me from her
alone in this place

A child fell, cutting his knee on a pottery shard. His blood watered the sand, pushing me into the soil. In his brief pain, he called to Enki, the Water God, who granted a year of beating rain. Was I blessed by Enki to outlive my kin or cursed to burn in the sun, gaped at by tourists?

Shajarat-al-Hayat
symbol of forgotten time
outliving all loves

 Copyright 2013 Brenda Davis Harsham

Inspired by the weekly Haībun challenge.
References:
http://www.worldtoptop.com/mysterious-tree-of-life-bahrain/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_of_Life,_Bahrain
http://www.bahrain.com/en/vp/things-to-do/top-ten-sights/Pages/Tree-of-Life.aspx#.UqvbGyihDzI

Winter Queen Haiku

Yew Sparkles in Snow

blue topaz shadows
yew queen crowned in ice crystals
sparkling with diamonds

Copyright 2013 Brenda Davis Harsham

New Day Haiku

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fresh new snow falling
path through a magic portal
leave the past behind

Copyright 2013 Brenda Davis Harsham

Hidden Dwarf Haiku

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magical dwarf hides

white duvet cannot warm him

cold makes stone from bone

Copyright 2013 Brenda Davis Harsham

December Haiku

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shivering tree toes
snowflake blanket melts in sun
dogs with cold, wet feet

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Copyright 2013 Brenda Davis Harsham

Fairy Ball Fibonacci Poem

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Shh!

Hide,

Fairies!

Hold fans high

Pretend we’re cabbage,

Think ornamental vegetable!

No more chorus line once music stops and fae-folk hide.

Slowly, as night dons its purple, starry cloak, the fae ball resumes, with pipe, fife and song.

Copyright 2013 Brenda Davis Harsham

Note: A Fibonacci Poem is one in which each succeeding line is equal in syllable length to the syllable length of the preceding two lines added together, or one, one, two, three, five, eight, thirteen, twenty-one, thirty-four, etc. 

Frosty Sparkles Haiku

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temperatures drop

white sparkles rim grass and leaf

frost vipers circle

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Reflections Haībun

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Too often, I look only for myself in reflections. I let the eyes of my friends and family tell me who I am. I check my hair or clothes in mirrors, critically noting imperfections, thinking about who I am on the surface.

Then a magical moment happened, standing on a bridge, water flowing musically below. My down coat was tightly zipped against the chill. Leaf mold scent mingled with the fragrance of coming snow. I looked down, and I didn’t see myself at all. Instead I saw the whole world reflected there, sky, clouds, trees, birds. My own self-critical thoughts stilled, and I heard the trees give windy sighs, their summer burdens discarded, in the embrace of winter dreams.

burdens lift away
self lost in the larger world
beauty calms, renews

Copyright 2013 Brenda Davis Harsham

Inspired by the weekly Haībun challenge, with the prompt of water.

Sun Setting on Autumn Haiku

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stormswept hillside bare
autumn sun setting due west
limbs touch namaste

Copyright 2013 Brenda Davis Harsham

Red Mushroom Mansion

Used Courtesy of Postaldeliveries

Used Courtesy of Postaldeliveries

Maybelle had often admired the red mushrooms mansions, where she imagined only the very luckiest of fae could live. She liked to imagine the quiet with only a few neighbors. She had been living in a fungus highrise since she was born, surrounded by constant noise and banter.

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Sylphanya, her sprite-mother, was hardly ever home and wanted different things than Maybelle. Her mother cared only for painting autumn leaves whereas Maybelle was drawn to water blossoms. Her mother seemed to like having a hundred neighbors, singing out happy hellos to everyone.

Maybelle knew the other fae-children thought she was a bit odd. Her near-neighbor Jamus called her a loner that morning because she hardly ever joined him and his sister, Dolpha, for nectar in the berry bar.

Maybelle was sad all day, not even the rainbow tints of a new lotus bloom cheered her. Maybelle decided to find her mother. Continue reading