I ... entered the poem of life, whose purpose is ... simply to witness the beauties of the world, to discover the many forms that love can take. (Barabara Blackman in 'Glass After Glass')

These poems are works in progress and may be updated without notice. Nevertheless copyright applies to all writings here and all photos (which are either my own or used with permission). Thank you for your comments. I read and appreciate them all, and reply here to specific points that seem to need it — or as I have the leisure. Otherwise I reciprocate by reading and commenting on your blog posts as much as possible.

26 January 2016

Old Happiness




I sit on my tiny front veranda with my cat. Too late to do café writing today, I do it here, with coffee and fruit cake. Dark fruit cake, almost black and very moist.

A great brown bird just flew over, reddish-brown, across my driveway to disappear past my roof. A coucal I thought at first, but no, the tail wasn't long enough. Thinking of shape and size – a small hawk. (Merlin! Is that you?) It sailed leisurely, with some smaller bird in tow like a satellite or an attendant.

I love this time of evening, when the hills opposite become navy-blue and featureless, sharp-edged against the whitening sky. The feathery tree across the road dances in the light breeze.

old diary
words of past happiness
make me weep



(Written 22/5/2015 - 26/1/2016)


If you think you recognise this, perhaps you do. It's part of a journal entry which I have already used extracts from in other ways. Coming across this extract today, which I can't find evidence of having published anywhere yet, I added the verse to make it a haibun. It is of course about my old – now late – cat, Levi, not my new cat, who has not yet generated any poems. (Give it time; she's only been with me a week.)

Shared at The Tuesday Platform, 26 Jan.16, at 'imaginary garden with real toads'


The photo is mine and should not be reproduced without permission. © Rosemary Nissen-Wade 2015.

16 comments:

  1. More cat poems!
    This is lovely, Rosemary, just a perfect snapshot of a moment we can all relate to.

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  2. I really like this.. the whole prose is like a flashback with the haiku pulling you back to the immediate... really well done.

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  3. I was watching that hawk with you, Marian. This a very nicely written journal entry. I'm seeing a first grader learning to write journals. I didn't know what a journal was until I learned about ship's journals.
    I'm not sure what a coucal is, do we have them in the states? I'm wondering too, was your old black able to see the bird swooping? She may have been prospect for prey. When you write of your new cat, I'd like to see her.
    ..

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    1. That's why I put the link on 'coucal', Jim. No, you don't have them

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    2. We have pheasants. They are gleaners of the fields. Thinner but the height of a chicken. With beautiful tails for the males.
      ..

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  4. Blackbirds will harry a hawk to keep it away from their nest; maybe that was the smaller bird you saw?

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    1. I've not seen blackbirds in this part of Australia, though there are plenty down south. Other birds, though, will harry the hawks and eagles, but this one was not doing that but only following along quietly.

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  5. How nice it is to rekindle back old memories to contribute towards what's new. The cat old or new is added inspiration. Wonderful scene and wonderful haibun Rosemary!

    Hank

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  6. You capture the mixed emotions of looking back on times gone by.

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  7. I love this poignant haibun, my friend. Just lovely.

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  8. Agree with Sherry- the break to your feelings or nostalgia is very strong and easy to relate to. Thanks, Rosemary. K.

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  9. Poignant, moving. Although old diaries hold tears, what a blessing it is to open it with fresh eyes ready for a new entry.

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  10. Very lovely Rosemary, thanks for letting me share your veranda with you on this day.

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  11. I love the presence and haunting of this moment, saturate with all we've loved and lost. Yes.

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  12. i love this.
    reminds me of all those sacred, precious moments that we usually share with only ourselves. yet, they are surely worth remembering.
    my writing time is my favorite. it's almost always done with coffee and cake. :)

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