Haibun, Poetry, Theme Prompt, Writing Challenge, Writing Prompts

Greyhound, 1938: A Haibun

Nancy's Notes 🖊️♬

Written for dVerse Haibun Monday:
Wedding Bliss. Our host, Mish, ask us
to write a haibun based on a wedding.
Dedicated to my godparents.

Image by Me & ChatGPT

The bus pulled out of the station at dawn …. diesel and cold coffee, strangers arranging themselves for the long, quiet journey. She had packed a thermos and sandwiches wrapped in wax paper; he had only a newspaper. Six hours is nothing. Six hours is a commute, a matinee and dinner, sleeping on a rainy night. But six hours can also be a whole life, folded small enough to fit between two bus seats. Somewhere past the state line they stopped being strangers. She told him about her sisters. He told her about the war he was sure was coming. The sandwiches ran out before the conversation did. By the time the driver called Raleigh, they had already built a house out of six hours …. walls of small talk, a roof of shared silence, a door they both, without saying so, intended to walk through together. They took separate rooms that night, out of propriety, or maybe just to prove to themselves it wasn’t a fever that morning would break. It didn’t break. At the courthouse, no family, no flowers, no rehearsal …. just a clerk, a witness, and two people who had run out of reasons to wait.


last stop, engine dies ….
two people step off the bus
no longer strangers

NAR©2026

This is “Chapel of Love” by The Dixie Cups

Haibun Monday: Wedding Bliss

Everything on the elephant trunk was created by me, unless otherwise indicate, and may not be used without permission. Thanks for your consideration. NAR©2017-present.

38 thoughts on “Greyhound, 1938: A Haibun”

    1. I’m so happy to know that! As a kid, I was always enchanted by this story of how my godparents met. They were such a loving couple and a wonderful inspiration and example for me. My husband and I met on a blind date and have been happily married for 54 years. We’re true believers in love at first sight. Thanks so much for your very gracious comments. 😊

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    1. Being married 54 years myself, Björn, I know nothing about dating apps! 😄 What I know about love and marriage I learned from people in my life, such as my godparents, who led by good example, which is something we all should do. Thanks for your lovely comment.

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  8. What a sweet story and I love the way you present it. I paused at this epic line…”But six hours can also be a whole life, folded small enough to fit between two bus seats”.

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  13. That’s a great sentence ‘But six hours can also be a whole life, folded small enough to fit between two bus seats’, which says a lot for keeping it simple. ‘At the courthouse, no family, no flowers, no rehearsal …. just a clerk, a witness, and two people who had run out of reasons to wait’ – I heard about similar weddings during World Wars One and Two.  I love the haiku.

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