On A Cold Winter Morning – A Haibun Poem By Salim Elias Madalo

On a cold winter morning with snow falling heavily I a young boy stood by my room’s window, playing the melodies of clouds lightning and rain upon the flute of my heart. At dusk watched the flocks of sheep and cattle returning to their pens. By night the howling of jackals and foxes reached me sometimes loud at other times faint and intermittent from the distant valleys. After warming my cold hands against our green heater I went to bed dreaming a variety of dreams some joyful others sorrowful. I also dreamt a dream that felt utterly real I saw the ten traps I had set in the meadow near our home had caught seven sparrows. I awoke to the sound of my mother calling me for breakfast before school. Before leaving, I sang a sweet lullaby to my beautiful cat: Sleep sleep my beautiful dark-furred cat sleep. When I return from school I will bring you a delicious piece of meat and a lovely necklace.
My beautiful cat – shani –
Smile smile
How lovely the necklace looks around your neck



