long past bedtime-
my toddler
dances in the town square

***
In the manner of Issa, this haiku takes a look at the passing scene, but an intimate one. As reader, I get a lot of immediate context. Usually life is well regulated–and not all societies have “bedtimes” for children. But now there is a party or holiday and everyone is out. The image of the square brings to mind a medium-sized town or community–a shared outdoor space. And these festivities have overridden the usual, because the toddler is up at all hours. And energetically able to keep up, too, dancing away.
It’s a sweet moment, and like all moments in both haiku and toddlerhood–fleeting.