His robe flapped against his bony legs as he trudged uphill, the night arrhythmic, the hoary cold blowing on its fingers, pensive. He had broken his stony silence only once, the monastery clinging to the cliff above us, bowing, listening, glowing a pearly white. Happiness is a constant. Everyone is handed the exact same amount. Misery on the other hand, is what you make out of your happiness. His words by now tactile, twisting sharply into carefully forgotten memories.
I stopped, breathing hard, the shadows scattering for a moment, before settling on my face, dropping sleeping leaves on my skin. I dug deep, sifting through the gravelly pain, a familiar ache beginning to spread and darken like an itinerant blood stain. After a while, a moment, a year, a lifetime, I lay back on the rocks exhausted and ripped open a bar of chocolate. He laughed and stretched out his hand, asking for his share, the moon shimmering on his palm, the monastery slipping behind a cloud, the universe converging its light into his silver joy.
waning gibbous
caught in a tree
biding her time
Your closing three sentences for your prose really encapsulates a sense of joy, for me. I love the sound play in rocks/exhausted and I enjoy the concise imagery in your haiku…light on limbs…graceful. Thank you, so much for the prompt! 🙂
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Thanks so much Hannah.
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This speaks to me of lovers stealing away from their life in the monastery and taking those words to heart that you make your own misery in life and realizing that they chose happiness instead. And even the moon has to bide her time to become free of her entanglements… I loved this, Rajani.
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Thanks so much 🙂
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so much imagery – right from the first line you pulled me in!
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Thank you Trish.
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The first and second paragraphs doesn’t obviously link, but the days, years later – is this a deja vu? The light hearted ending of the prose is lovely but the gibbous moon abiding its time in the tree is telling of a future tale/memory.
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Very Yin/Yang. It strikes a balance and is well expressed (as always)
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Thanks so much Walt 🙂
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Fascinating. I wasn’t expecting a chocolate thief!
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🙂 Thanks Viv!!
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delightful reading
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Thank you ZQ.
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“Misery on the other hand, is what you make out of your happiness.” Love this message within this well penned haibun. Loved the idea of the monastery within their realm of being. Then the juxtapositioning of the chocolate bar with the monastic life….
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Thanks so much Lillian, glad you liked it.
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Very beautiful writing. I want to know more, yet I like it as this intriguing glimpse of (perhaps) a larger story. I love the chocolate and the silver joy, and like everyone else am struck by the wisdom of the remarks on happiness and misery.
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Thanks Rosemary…the wisdom is a hand-me-down, explained to me as a child.
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Your haibun transported me to the cliff in the moonlight. I felt the chill when I read the phrase: ‘the hoary cold blowing on its fingers’. I love the idea of words being tactile, and the phrase: ‘the shadows scattering for a moment, before settling on my face, dropping sleeping leaves on my skin’ is very atmospheric. And then, there is the moon, caught in a tree like a balloon 🙂
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Thanks so much…. yes the trapped moon, just waiting for its turn to be free instead of being miserable…
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what a peaceful scene.
i got the impression of late evening, early moon, comrade between two soul whose lives have intertwined with ease.
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Thanks Stacy. Like your sense of the haibun.
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It is so evocative of a beautiful moonlit night. Very nice
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Thanks so much.
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I got simple companionship and a trusting, easy togetherness – something many people never find with someone else. Enjoyed the journey – the hike.
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Thanks so much Margaret. Glad you liked it.
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Everyone is given the same amount of happiness. Misery is what you make out of your happiness… what an interesting concept. Great images in this… the monastery clinging to a cliff.. works so beautifully as both real and metaphorical… open to interpretation.
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Thank you. Am so glad you pointed out the metaphor there. Appreciate your comment very much.
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“The moon shimmering on his palm” — what beautiful imagery! Lovely haibun. Thanks for hosting!
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Thank you Mary.
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I love the idea of the moon biding her time. And that “silver joy” that also speaks to a sliver of joy…and sometimes that’s enough, isn’t it? Wonderful.
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It is enough if we can recognize it and live in it! Thanks so much.
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I admire the reflections of happiness is a constant, and what we make of misery ~ The ending part strikes me as hopeful:
He laughed and stretched out his hand, asking for his share, the moon shimmering on his palm, the monastery slipping behind a cloud, the universe converging its light into his silver joy.
Thanks for hosting ~
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Thank you Grace. My pleasure to host at Dverse.
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I fell in love with two of your phrases. I know I will be thinking of them for while, for they invite to be explored. The concept of misery and happiness being so dependent on each other, being just a decision (or more) away… simply brilliant and provocative. Then the imagery of “tactile” words… love that. It would be such a great way to meditate, just letting the words say what they most to our skin.
The prose is wonderful, and the best of icings.
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Thanks Magaly. Glad you liked it. It doesn’t always seem that way, but maybe happiness is a constant.
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This is such a visual treat. I really enjoyed reading this captured moment.
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Thanks so much Misky.
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I love how you describe misery being where we take our happiness. Very lovely!
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Thanks Carol…something I was taught when I was very young..it stuck with me.
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It’s a good concept about how to live!
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Zen & chocolate in moonlight, the perfect mix of whimsey & spirituality. Great sense of time & place, transported me to Mt. Baldy, walking with Leonard Cohen, to the perfect pitch of silence & naked truth.
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Thanks so much Glenn and I love that it reminded you of Cohen!
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I really love where you took this tale of a moonlit walk. More philosophy than romance, but yet you can learn so much of life walking in the silvery path.
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Thank you Bjorn.
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A possible interpretation: the paternalistic Adam/Eve myth is turned on its head with an enlightened Eve giving a monastic Adam a chance for his share of joy, perhaps even more than what was allocated 🙂 ‘Carefully forgotten memories’ and ‘a familiar ache beginning to spread and darken like an itinerant blood stain’ are wow.
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Hmm.. very Freudian…very interesting! 🙂
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