Mono no Aware

Hello wonderful Toads!  I hope you all are well.  Some of you in different parts of the world are experiencing spring/summer while the rest of us are enjoying (1) the ending of fall and the beginning of winter.  All of us are seeing the year slowly die.  This brings me to a Japanese phrase - mono no aware (moh noh noh ah wah ray) which means, a wistful sadness at the passing of things.  This includes leaves falling, the first frost, the ending of a relationship, the ending of an era, or death.  The Japanese believe in a concept of mujo - change.  All things change and are constantly changing.

I would like you all to write a poem about change - not the full blown depression but the subtle sneaky sadness that hits us sometimes.  The "wistful sadness"...I know I have had times of mono no aware these past two years - when my cousin Billy died recently of cancer I grieved. But there was also the feeling of an end of an era - we were part of a group called the 11/16 Club, a group of people all born on NOvember 16.  I am the last of that group of twenty people.

So write about change - the changing of the seasons, the loss of a lover in your life, the loss of a friend, the loss of a parent or family member or pet.  I want you to write about changing jobs, moving to a different house, moving to a new city.  I want you to write about change (mujo) and the mono no aware that comes with such changes. I recently wrote a haibun in the classic style - meaning 100 or fewer words, not the long rambling modern ones.  This haibun and haiku show the changes in the seasons and the feeling of sadness at the changes.

Haibun -  cherry tree

The cherry tree in my yard is bare now.  Pink blooms festooned the branches. The leaves were green during summer and red during fall. Now at the beginning of winter, the leaves lay in disarray at its base.  Slow rain soaks the fallen leaves.

bare cherry tree

shivers in the rain – 

winter is here

For this challenge, I want you to write about the changes and the sadness around those changes.  I also want you to be brief - no more than 150 words.  Try to write in the Japanese style of brevity and minimal description.  Let the world show your sadness, not your descriptions.  If you can't, don't worry about it.  Just remember, this is about that wistful sadness, not about full out grief.

Post your link on Mr. Linky.  And please - read the submissions of others and comment on them. this is not a requirement but it is only courtesy.