We did not notice their coming. Eyes fixed on the apex, minds on the map, our breath shortening to the point of discomfort. Stopping then and turning to the east, sucking in salty ozone breaths from the wide flat seascape below. Skylarks filtered upward into silence. The still point suddenly broken when chilly gusts swept in, stroking with giant hands across the unripe acres. Clouds gathering – murakumo – murmured the barley, passing the message from ear to ear and bowing. We turned and saw legions of light-dispelling nebulae, rolling inexorably over us, spitting large globules of rain before there was even time to take cover in the ragged field boundaries. But really there was no need, for the clouds rushed on, to disperse one by one over the sea. We had seen their spectacle in droplets of suspended time, before skylarks returned to earth.
fat green barley plumes
gathering drops of heaven
clouds of mayfly soon
© Laura Granby 2016
‘Murakumo/gathering clouds’ belatedly composed for Haibun Monday where Toni @ DVerse inspires us to take a Japanese sky word for her prompt: The sky is the limit
and tying up with the Tuesday Platform too
Thank you for the skylarks. It’s so long since I heard them 🙂
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These songsters were East Anglian – on the red alert list now 😦 – hear songbirds while we still can here
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Lovely link.
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Luv the way you took us along with you, to see to hear to feel and in conclusion released us with your haiku cloud gathering
much love…
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a memorable moment – thanks for your appreciation
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Love the image you painted of the barley speaking of the coming clouds and then bowing respectfully
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why else do they have ears! thank you Bryan 🙂
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I love the haiku here! Taking us from the songs of birds to the barley bowing respectfully. And the clouds of mayflies beginning soon…just lovely.
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ah loved this prompt – mayflies set the season 😉
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Yes they did!
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The musical pause broke as chilly gusts swept in,
stroking with giant hands across the unripe acres.
The clouds can be beautifully shaped to extend pics of human figures in many instances. And they are not in any hurry to move on to change which readily creates the wonder. Rightly so, Laura!
Hank
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as my 7 year old grandson observed yesterday – clouds can predict the future 🙂
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Nicely done! I enjoyed this and the image.
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Thank you Donna – I liked it enough to bend with the barley!
P.s.- am wondering if your shoulder is feeling well enough to be back in the typo-blogosphere
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This is beautiful lyrical writing, one becomes lost in the scenery.
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Such scenes awake the skylark in me 😉
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I feel like I was with you experiencing the moment. Changing weather and unusual clouds can be riveting and scary.
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This one had drama and tension which felt magical – glad I was able to transmit some of this atmosphere Beth
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I love your descriptive prose, and I particularly love your haiku.
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Really appreciate your comments Rosemary especially as I struggled with the haiku
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Murakumo! How lovely.
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Japanese has such many such mesmerising words
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Loved the image…the last line of the haiku adds so much to the whole write…beautiful!!
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Thank you and welcome! I rely much on images – they condense the words for clouds of inspiration to let fall later
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I look to the haiku for cohesion and description. Yours certainly does supply all that, Laura!
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Thank you Walt – it’s hard line between cohesion and duplication & must add something fresh too –
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This is just breath-taking. What beauty
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Breathtaking in many ways – glad to hear that comes through the words – thank you
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Your skylark prose is lovely, as is your haiku at its end. Beautifully written – indeed, I am feeling as if it puts my own to shame! Nature’s beauty is often so hard to put into words that seem worthy of it. Yours are. 🙂 Thanks for sharing.
p.s. I did write a post @Toads on songbirds – if you didn’t catch it then, maybe you’d appreciate it now – or, hopefully, be inspired by it. Here’s the link:
http://withrealtoads.blogspot.com/2016/08/voices-spaces-songbirds-dreaming-with.html
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Will do Stacie – birds of a feather and all that!
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Splendidly vivid. Love what you’ve done with this prompt, Laura.
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Thank you Misky – it was a lovely prompt
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we listened then watched clapper larks. Their ritual dance for a partner.
As I listen to Lark Ascending!
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Had to google it – what a lark!
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I do love the prose, the droplets coming, but I felt like I was drinking rain like wine… Wonderful
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such a poetic comment – thank you ❤
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