A Jelly Jar of Stars

Written for David’s Wea’ve Written Weekly.
Our PoW this week is Reena, who has chosen
the theme “East Meets West”. Our challenge.
is to combine one Western poetic form with one
Japanese poetic form. This is my Haibun/Shadorma.

They grew in the shadowed place beneath the fence, modest as a whispered secret …. lily of the valley, their white bells hanging as if listening for something only they could hear. I picked them without asking. I simply knew, the way children know certain things, that these flowers were meant to be carried inside with both hands …. tenderly, carefully.

Mom took down a jelly jar …. not a vase, just glass that had once held strawberry jam …. filled it with water, and set my small bouquet on a crocheted doily in the center of the table. Then she stepped back and looked at it the way people look at things they mean to remember forever.

Two dozen long-stem red roses in a Baccarat crystal vase would never be as wonderful in her eyes.

small white bells…
asking for nothing,
give so much…
gentle stars
floating on a sea of green
now take center stage

NAR©2026
#W3

This is “Lily of the Valley” by Queen

W3 Prompt #213: Wea’ve Written Weekly

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