A Memory of Them

The Cherry blossoms passed so quickly. Now, the greenery of Cherry, Maple, Oak, and locus envelop the neighborhood. An unusual chill pervades the air on this last full weekend of May.

Murmers of the ones I lost bubble up with every leaf rippling in the breeze. Granny and Poppy, Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Butchy and Uncle Anthony. Cousin Joey. Uncle Nick, and his sister Bobbi.

Mom and Dad.

So many more. With more to come as the years flow on. And all I can do for them is remember.

How fitting.

Memorial Day

the graveside flags

fall still

I’m hosting Haibun Monday over at dVerse. We write about the loved ones we lost on this Memorial Day.

The Pub is still open! Come join us!

Comments

13 responses to “A Memory of Them”

Aaron Guile

May 26, 2025

Very nicely done. Thank you for posting this.

LikeLiked by 1 person

Reply
pandamoniumcat

May 27, 2025

Beautifully written, it is all we can do, remember them. 🙂

LikeLiked by 1 person

Reply
kim881

May 27, 2025

I love the way you set the scene in the opening paragraph, Frank, and the graveside flags falling still, like the end of Memorial Day – I could almost hear the bugle play The Last Post.

LikeLiked by 1 person

Reply
Frewin55

May 27, 2025

Like you Frank, we children weren’t allowed to go to my grandparents open grave burials – I think my parents had seen too much death during the war and wanted to shield us form it, which I think was a mistake – however we rely on memories as you set out here.

On a technical point, I see your haiku has less than 17 syllables – is the form flexible then?

LikeLiked by 1 person

Reply
1. Frank J. Tassone
  
  May 27, 2025
  
  Thank you.
  
  Regarding the form: many contemporary haiku poets do NOT adhere to the 17 syllable rule. The most common structure they use is the short-long-short format. That’s the one I usually employ.
  
  That said, write the haiku that comes from you—whether 17 syllables or short-long-short.
  
  LikeLike
  
  Reply
  1. Frewin55
    
    May 27, 2025
    
    Thanks for that Frankm
    I am sure you know the English punk poet John Cooper-Clarke’s offering –
    To write a poem
    in seventeen syllables
    is very diffic…
    
    LikeLiked by 1 person
crazy4yarn2

May 27, 2025

I want to believe the memories of those I loved who died will bring me a smile instead of sadness.

LikeLiked by 1 person

Reply
Björn Rudberg (brudberg)

May 27, 2025

A day to remember, but I do think that there are things that also catch up with you when you least expect it… but let us bask in the good memories

LikeLiked by 1 person

Reply
Ain – forestbather UA

May 27, 2025

A quiet, beautiful, real and sincere haibun, Frank, under the hush of the leaves, where the silence of memories is a state of its own…very fitting.

LikeLiked by 1 person

Reply
Jennifer Wagner

May 27, 2025

Beautiful and heartfelt, Frank. That last line of your haiku is just perfect.

LikeLiked by 1 person

Reply
lynn__

May 28, 2025

Love how you end this with “the graveside flags fall still.” Perfect haibun and prompt for Memorial Day, Frank…thanks for hosting.

LikeLiked by 1 person

Reply
pvcann

June 2, 2025

I like the way you gently take us to memory and then bring us to presence, they are gone yet with us differently, and which makes me reflect on my own eventual passing, time is indeed precious. Yes, all we can do is re-member them.

LikeLiked by 1 person

Reply
emilykarn64

July 2, 2025

Very moving.

LikeLiked by 1 person

Reply