Witness ( #haibun poetry )

Colleen’s Challenge

Night sky of wonder
strewn with delights and desires
birthing endless stars

Orion flexes a dazzling display to woo an aloof and shimmering Cassiopeia,
bathing the dark sky in a sintilating sparkle of beauty.
But none of it trickles onto the mundane earth below
Down beneath that gorgeous night-sky, an eerie squeal pierces the silence!

I stand sentinel on the doorstep of a beleaguered hut and turn to look inside,
thus I bare witness to the polarizing event within.
Icy shards scrape through my nerves as my gaze falls on the haggard features of a woman in agony.
The man besides her hums a gentle hymn in an attempt to soothe her pain and succor her strain.
‘Shut up!’ she yells at him, grimacing in effort, a steely resolve etching itself onto her wearied features.
She braces herself then bellows a final collosal scream that rents the night air

Silence- then a squeak and a flutter. The most beautiful cry serenades that moist room.
I stare at the ethereal scene before me, a tiny miracle nestles between the loving couple.

Outside, Cassiopeia succumbs to Orion’s lures and the heavens blossom in their revelry,
But in that tiny hut, amidst the smells of birth, lies a beauty that rivals even them

Night sky of wonder
strewn with delights and desires
birthing endless stars

Synonyms for COMFORT and WORN