Haibun

                                                        PORTRAITS              

Next to my wedding photo is one of my mother’s on her wedding day.  The pictures were taken 30 years apart.  Comparing my face as it is now and as it was then, I see the same bone structure, thick eyebrows, a small indentation in my chin.  My now face has wrinkles around the mouth.  My hair is white and my neck is crinkly.  When I compare the two me’s it is always with a surprised feeling of time, not just time flying, but never coming back.  Looking at my mother’s picture is less startling.  I don’t think of her appearance when she died.  I see her photo every day when she was young.  I imagine knowing her then.  Dark eyes and hair, smooth olive toned skin, a delicate nose and a mouth showing the tender beginnings of a smile.  A beauty in a Juliet cap and ivory velvet gown, the smooth fit showing well her slim figure.

                                                         stillness

                                                     before the midnight bong
                                                         her face in shadow


Modern Haibun and Tanka Prose, June 2009