Last week was the first day of the season, but now we’re back to winter. When my husband was alive, he looked forward to spring because he enjoyed sitting outside. The more the sun shone, the better. Having grown up in southern Colorado and lived in California for years, he wasn’t used to Wyoming’s brutal winters.
The following poem from How to Build a Better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver illustrates this concept. This poetic form is called a haibun. It combines two or more paragraphs of prose with one haiku.
SPRING’S HOPELESSNESS
Spring comes wet with little sun. Hope is dashed by the wind that buffets the house, rattles wind chimes, rain that drums on the roof. Without enough warmth, grass, flowers, trees, shrubs won’t grow.
He loves the sun, can’t get enough. It’s one of his few pleasures since he can no longer walk or use his left arm or care for himself. After a brutal winter with endless snow, frigid temperatures, he longs to enjoy the sun’s healing warmth.
wishes for the sun
fall on the deaf ears of God
wait for warmth to come
Aren’t you sick of winter? Don’t you long for spring?
Abbie Johnson Taylor, Author of We Shall Overcome and How to Build a Better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver
My Corner 
We just got put back in the deep freeze too. Drat that Arctic air! We’re supposed to get snow tomorrow as well. It must be a back order since we hadn’t had any since January. Even so, I get a charge out of any sunlight we get. On the weekend, I charged up my Pebble-mini with my solar panel.
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Hi, Abbie–Thank you for your instructive and creative post about Haibun. I am always glad to learn about a new form which combines poetry and prose. We, in Milwaukee, are also longing for the sunshine and spring. I would give up twenty degrees for full sunshine for a day. Happy Spring! Alice
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Thank you, Alice, as always, for your comment. I hope you get sunshine soon.
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