14 Country Haiku

Clopping of horses'
hooves on the cobblestone street
gets the dogs barking

Husky male voices

in the evening street—I don't
know what they're saying

It's nice just to watch

these leaves, blown and glowing green
in the late spring breeze

*

A dry pine cone drops

with a cracking sound against
a fallen brother

A rooster crowing

in the dark—we're both awake
before we should be

A red-eyed fly lands

on my pants and stares at me,
then sputters away

*

Mushroom hunting, we

hide in the trees from the wind—
flickering shadows

Afternoon squalling

of a cock across the street—
what's bothering him?

Ant and ladybug

busy themselves on the leaves
of a late spring peach

*

So many voices—

I emerge from sleep at dawn
and listen to birds

A bell shudders with

the clopping of horses' hooves—
creaking wooden cart

Bird sits twittering

on a wire while winds bellow
behind him at dawn

*

Lying on a rug
in the cool shade of the house,
not wanting to move

Up the mountain road
a bent white-haired woman walks
at a right angle



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