December. As the temperature plummets, my bedroom window freezes shut. Once again I pull out wool sweaters, wool socks, snow pants and mittens. On a clear night the curved edge of the moon and gleaming stars emit a bell-like ring…small pleasures…and solstice will soon be here. Then the sun will shine a fraction of a minute longer each day…a slow reversal barely visible until spring, yet it is a knowledge that will help my spirit stay afloat. How often does this happen—an imperceptible shift to light just as darkness feels like forever?
hope
in deep winter I wait
for the sun’s return
.
.
©️2019 Ontheland
Ontheland 
Hope and melancholy at once. Well composed.
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That it is. Thank you 🙂
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Even though it’s still getting darker, it does seem to have shifted towards the light. (K)
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Reblogged this on Frank J. Tassone and commented:
#Haiku Happenings #7: Janice’s latest #haibun for my current #haikai challenge!
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Thank you, Frank 🙂
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I like the way you connect the cycle of light and hope.
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Thanks…I find it very interesting that the winter solstice, the day often called ‘first day of winter’ is actually when the retreat of daylight reverses.
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Yes, I have thought that same thing. To me winter starts on about December 1 and ends on March 1, more or less, so 12/21 is just kind of out there as an almost random day (though I understand why it is not). It really does seem we need to call it something else, like, the bottom of the year, or something (I visualize the year as a circle like a clock and 12/21 is at 6 pm for me, don’t know why).
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I like that: “the bottom of the year”. The more I watch the seasons I realize how slippery they are…change constantly in process…with boundaries blurring. Here it certainly feels like winter ….it already was feeling like winter but the arrival of December made it indisputable.
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A beautiful combined image and haiku. Im can feel the chill!!
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Thank you, Denis.
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Fabulous 😎 😎
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Thank you 🙂
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Janice, your prose and poetry are equally beautiful … haunting, reflective! That shift is incredible, uplifting, frightening!
“An imperceptible shift to light just as darkness feels like forever?”
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Thank you, Annika 🌺
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Awesome..you always written incredible poetry.
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