A Haiku Collection
For Valentine's Day
by Dale Neibaur
On Valentine's Day
The neighbor's dog with
Graceful golden flourish signs
My empty mailbox.
The Gift
With velvet paws she
Pounces on his red paper heart—
Accustomed prey.
Father of the Bride
New love sings in joy;
But the old grieves silently
In your empty room
Good Night I
Impatient for Love?
Perhaps I am. But can't we
Discuss it later?
Good Night II
The curve of your smile
As we dim the last light is
The sweetest gift yet.
After Loving You
A silvered thread among
The tangled flames upon my breast;
And still my heart stops.
Faithfully Yours (2003)
I will fear winter
Nevermore, for in your arms
Bides eternal spring
[One of the delights of haiku is its combination of vivid imagery and murky meaning. One of the really obnoxious limitations of haiku is its combination of vivid imagery and murky meaning. Steve & I swapped haiku verses during early February 2001. He couldn't figure out what on earth I was talking about, so I added titles to give readers a hint of where I was going.
The emotional rewards of a spouse and children are tied for me to people and places more than to times, so many of my holiday emotions still link unfiltered to my childhood and early adolescence. And romantic love was a strange brew of longing and fear, distilled and hoarded when it should have been given away. My children have taught me much about myself. I watch Shawn struggling mightily with his yearning to be lovable; his wit sparkles and gleams as it indiscriminately slices everything within his ever-lengthening reach. I laugh and stand close, bleeding. And I remember ...]