Today is the first of Colleen Chesebro’s November prompts. The words to use are Night and Fright—or rather their synonyms, not the words themselves. Since today is also Samhain, or Halloween if you prefer, I’ve written a seasonal haibun, and dedicated the first haiku to Colleen.

Today marks the turning of the year into the dark, the beginning of winter, hunger and cold. We build our fires high to symbolise the sun, and send the flames high into the night as a token of our faith that light and warmth will return. Tonight, the walls grow thin between this world and the other, and we listen, avidly, for the voices of those who have already gone through the door, hoping to entice them back among us for this one night of the year.

No fear of the dark

except for the trembling mouse,

waiting for fox pounce.

Do not listen…