Manhattanhenge: June 2026

Written for dVerse Haibun Monday 6/22/26:
First Solstice, hosted by Frank Tassone

At four-thirty, the city was still doing what cities do, and I thought: it will happen without me. It always does. But there I stood on the Jersey side with my hands in my pockets and waited, the way you wait for something you’re not sure you deserve to see. And then the sun found a gap …. that impossible, perfect gap between the buildings …. and for a moment I forgot I was tired and cranky and remembered how incredibly small and insignificant I was in this majestic dawn happening.

A gull flew straight through it, through the light itself. The longest day; I stood there thinking how special it was for me to have witnessed this.

longest morning
the bird flies through the sun
and I was there

NAR©2026

This is “Morning Has Broken” by Cat Stevens

Haibun Monday 6-22-26: First Solstice

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