“I thought the most beautiful thing in the world must be shadow.”
― Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
A winter day I crave what little sun there is, and still in early April I will seek the sun. Today at lunch i walk around the block avoiding shadows. The sun is still too faint for warmth and in the shadows linger cold; in just another month or two the midday sun will burn and on a midday stroll I seek the shade.
Hues are different in shadows; today I noted how the sun makes colors shallow. But in the shadow colors fill. I feel the colors in the shade are harbinger of summer when green is greener and and yellow flowers brighter. But in the dark of winter you need the sun to spark some life in the rot of brown decay.
wilted grass —
its offspring still asleep
by rush-hour traffic
Weeds and flowers by John Henry Twachtman
Toni hosts Haibun Monday today at dVerse, and challenge us to write about shadows.
—
April 3, 2017
I really like the haiku at the end of this. And it is so very true. All the sunlight washes out the colours. Contrast is always best.
Thank you… I’m glad you liked the haiku… I wanted to have some contrasts there as well.
And you did it beautifully.
Great haiku. And within the prose….the idea of colors shifting withing shadows themselves. Especially like this line “But in the dark of winter you need the sun to spark some life in the rot of brown decay”
We are very in tune with the sun and the shadows it throws—cool and to be sought in summer, cold and to be shunned in winter.
Yes, I understand. Nice write.
Amazing Haiku Bjorn.Sun is coming now to us in this North and winter is fading but perhaps not quite gone.
How shadows take on a different hues when its cold or hot ~ As its still slightly cold, I walk outside to get the full warmth of the sun ~ I love your haiku of wilted grass, which is what I see here now ~ No spring blossoms yet ~
“The sun makes colors shallow” Perfect line! Marvelously done!
I would be looking more to be in the sun in April than in July as well. If one is out of the shadows they do look nice.
Lovely write as all transitions into yet another season. I saw yellow blooms today.
What a classy idea to put a quote before your poem; smile. This is a stalwart little haibun, both personal & regional. Your poetry over the years has been like a guide to Sweden. We are having some sunny, yet breezy 53 degree sunny days here, not warm for the no-coaters & short-sleepers.
Love that haiku! I can see the spring colors deepening in this.
I enjoyed the Plath quote, Bjorn. Like you, I seek the shade on warm days. That’s when our garden and house come into their own – lots of shadows, nice and cool. I like the way you focus on the colour of shadows in the second paragraph and the grass offspring in the haiku made me smile.
“In the shadow, colours fill”…. what a great line, Björn… Time I got writing some poetry again, I love the promises that shadows bring, I’m sure I could fire up my muse with this subject (but, lazy me, I probably won’t)
‘i walk around the block avoiding shadows. ‘…ha just the opposite happens here in India in April, we avoid the aggressive sun…i also like the soft voice of shadow here…
what a colorful haibun, Bjorn. ❤ ❤ ❤ loving the different angles on shadow.
Love the thought of shadows in different hues! Great piece, Bjorn~
Beautiful, sensitive and delicate haibun. And the haiku was perfect for the theme.
Fun glimpse of your latitude
Loved the last traffic line! Secular in the Sacred.
Fun mix
Enjoyed the contrast between the sun’s shallow colours and the shadow making them stronger – it feels it should be the other way. The shadows definitely hold the cold in the UK at the moment too.
Enjoyed…like I too had those walks and sights..beautiful like a painting!
I really liked reading your direct prose then followed by your haiku. It gave me a connection jolt to those last visual moments in winter giving way to spring, and my own desire to just go to work and get through it on those last winter days.
beautiful piece. love the haiku