isn't it vexing
not to know what plants will bloom
next year?
my wife murmurs to a lone rose
bent above near-leafless branches
I don't know what kind of question that is. My silence slows the pace of time passing; however, nothing is really unusual between us, a quiet couple as seen through the eyes of our friends and neighbors.
I go into the house, turn on the TV, and spend the rest of this afternoon drowning myself in the sound and fury of war news.
awake
in pre-dawn darkness ...
twenty years now,
I sleep side by side with her
this familiar stranger
Haiku Canada Review, 18:1, February 2024
