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L’alba: A Haibun

Nancy's Notes 🖊️♬

Written for dVerse Poets Pub ~ Haibun Monday:
“Silence”. The image is borrowed from my amici at
Blog 57. Frank is our host and this is my haibun.

“L’alba” (“Dawn”)
© Blog 57

The harbor holds its breath. In the last moments before the world awakens, the water lies flat as polished pewter, and the boats rest without rocking …. patient, unhurried. The sun has not yet committed to the day. It lingers at the edge of the sea, soft and indecisive, casting no shadows, only this pale bath of gold and lilac. A life ring hangs on its post. Ropes coil on decks. Everything is where it was left, waiting without impatience.
This is what silence looks like when it is full rather than empty …. not the silence of absence, but of everything present and still. The palms on the shore do not stir. The distant land holds its dark shape quietly against the brightening sky. Even the light arrives without sound, without ceremony, simply there.
Standing here, I know not to speak …. not because of sadness, not because of awe exactly …. but because to add a voice to this would be to misunderstand it entirely.

between the waves
the whole morning
learns to exist


NAR©2026

This is “Quiet” by Paul Simon

Haibun Monday 4-27-26: Silence
l’alba

Everything on The Elephant’s Trunk was created by me, unless otherwise indicated. Thanks for your consideration. NAR©2017-present.

28 thoughts on “L’alba: A Haibun”

  3. This haibun is utterly magnificent, Maggie, with fluid prose and punctuating haiku! I love this line: “The distant land holds its dark shape quietly against the brightening sky.”

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  7. Embracing silence is a profound tool for mental well-being, personal growth, and emotional regulation, offering a way to rise above the noise of daily life and cultivate inner peace. Instead of reacting impulsively, this “golden” silence shows strength, reduces stress, and allows for deeper reflection and strategic thinking.

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  11. Such gorgeous images, Nancy, which resonates with me as we have moorings at the end of our garden – not quite the same as a harbour, but close enough. I love the simile ‘the water lies flat as polished pewter’ and the sun lingering ‘at the edge of the sea, soft and indecisive, casting no shadows, only this pale bath of gold and lilac’. Yes, the haiku says it all.

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