Select Published Tanka – Drifting Sands Haibun

fussbudgetting
in the basement . . .
even your candor
won’t clean up
this mess

you’re remembered in dreams
and remembered in prayers
I also see you
in a whiff of coffee and
the scent of new-fallen snow

when I close my eyes
you’re standing there
naked
with a pear
in your hands

desert rose
standing by the road
thumb in the air
with headlights on the horizon
you still the rising moon

the obelisk stands
in sharp contrast
to the many weary pilgrims
gathered in its shadow
waiting on their knees

one oar creaks
as it gently dips
into the lake…
I’m rowing
in circles

I listen for the sound
of butterfly wings
of blossoms
and sunshine
and laughter

new growth
in the old forest . . .
the many ways
we’ve discovered
to hold hands

my memory of you
keeps fading away . . .
I’m searching
for a glass of water
poured into the sea