Children grow
wings, flying high, far–
in the wake
we wait for
yesterday to catch up with
what they have become

Sunriseset–
the pattern of days
opening
and closing,
the inside of the circle
empties and refills

Repeating
our footsteps, echoed,
mirrored, but
not the same–
the outlines rearranging
beginning to end

Sunriseset–
the pattern of days
opening
and closing,
the inside of the circle
empties and refills

Image by enriquelopezgarre from Pixabay

For Colleen’s #tankaTuesday photo prompt, above, selected by Linda Lee Lyberg.  I’ve been looking at the image, trying to decide if it was a sunrise or a sunset in order to focus my words.  This made me think of the iconic song from Fiddler on the Roof, “Sunrise Sunset”.  Frank’s prompt at dVerse, to compose something in imitation of something else, made me think about trying to capture the essence of the song in a shadorma chain that also reflected the artwork.

Fiddler on the Roof resonates more than ever in these times, when so many are homeless, driven from their literal and spiritual homes by money, politics, war, ignorance, power and greed, when so many are left abandoned, wandering or imprisoned.  A world that offers few peoples and places that will welcome refugees and attempt to heal the empty spaces, few places that are not afraid of strangers, of humans who are not exactly like them.

This scene in the play never fails to move me:  in dark times, there is still a place to come together in hope, to light a candle, to dream.

An antidote to my poem posted on The Ekprastic Review today.