“low winter sun” by Sharnon Knight
“low winter sun”
a pathfinder’s way
ends at home
fresh snow and bare trees
a welcome sight
We swore we passed the same farmhouse. Weather-worn, with a silo near the barn, and perhaps a shed set back in the same, full field. Each one lay along a state road in Vermont, out of Vergennes, on the way to Stowe during the pre-GPS days. We traveled up there for a weekend hiking with the Appalachian Mountain Club then.
Years later, we would take that route again, this time on our way home from Smuggler’s Notch, just north of Stowe. Somehow, those farmhouses looked no older than before.
winter field
so little light left
to resist the dark
afternoon shadows swallow
a snow-covered propane tank
for dVerse Poets Pub–Poetics, hosted by Mish
Colleen’s Weekly #Tanka Tuesday#Poetry Challenge #66
Kiwinana’s Weekly Tanka Prompt Challenge #79
Share the love. Spread the haikai:
Categories: haikai, haiku community
This really got me: farmhouses looked no older than before
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Agree with Eric… somehow the way the farmhouse doesn’t change really… there is a comfort there.
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What a lovely Haibun. Isn’t it funny how some places never change and seem to stay the same? Or… is it our perceptions? ❤
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Yes… the landscape only gives background to the steadfast structures.
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Thank you, Sharon! And thank you for your photo!
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Reblogged this on Poetry and Prose and commented:
Your haiku is inspiring. It takes me back to those country days
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Thanks so much for the reblog! 😀
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The lines about the afternoon shadows swallowing the snow-covered propane tank just popped out at me. An example of the eye of a poet.
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Thank you, Victoria! 😀
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You capture that feeling of relief and comfort of arriving home, or to a place that has a home in one’s memory. Very nice!
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Thanks!
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Beautiful. I love “a pathfinder’s way ends at home.”
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Thanks, Sherry!
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Old farmhouses reach an age when they never seem to age further.
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Indeed, Frank!
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Great poem, you describe the photo perfectly!
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Thank you!
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Frank, your recent comment kindly left at my Shay’s Word Garden blog was sent, for some reason, to the spam comments by Blogger. (Toni Spencer’s comment did as well.) I’ve straightened it out now.
I am not much for haiku as you know, but great photograph and love the Clannad as well. 🙂
–coal (Fireblossom)
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Thanks, Shay, although technically the first and third “stanzas” are Tanka, the modern name for the older Waka. The photographer runs a great photo blog, worth checking out. Thanks for reading! 😀
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There is a nostalgic feel to this. I like the idea of the farmhouses holding up to the weathering of time.
Thanks for joining in, Frank.
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Thank you, Mish, for your kind words and for going above and beyond hosting!
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Nostalgic
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Indeed! Thank you!
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Oh, this takes me back home to the gravel roads and snow covered farmland of my youth.
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😀
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Charming farm houses in Vermont during the winter – they are a beautiful sight
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Thanks, Rommy!
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You are a master of these short Japanese forms, Frank. Beautiful images.
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Thank you, Jane! I appreciate this high praise! 😀
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Well deserved 🙂
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I agree with Bjorn and Eric about the farmhouses – the shed or barn the picture seems stable and comforting – ‘a welcome sight’. I love how you captured the shadows and how the snow makes an ordinary propane tank unusual and beautiful in the final tanka.
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Thank you, Kim! 😀
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‘the dark afternoon shadows swallow a snow-covered propane tank’… this is so powerful!
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Thanks, Sanaa!
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I loved your poem and your story. The dark winters days with the hazy sun really creates a wonderful affect!
Dwight
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I like the way you had passed by twice and the building seemed the same- I liked -a pathfinder’s way ends at home, so often we revisit a place only to find that some of the differences are so great that our memory is barely recognisable.
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Lovely, Frank, and you are right. The farmhouses never seem to change.
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Thanks, Purple!
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Definitely timeless…and it also looks like home. A beacon in the dusk. (K)
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