(haibun)
As my son undergoes treatment in a residential facility
designed to aid the MICA (mentally ill, chemically addicted) client, I sit at
home, writing haiku, waiting to hear some positive news from either his
therapist or from my son himself. I revisit our path, the one we have traveled
together through life thus far.
I search for signs that this nightmare is soon to be over,
that his recovery is within sight, that we will be happily reunited, that we
will take a moment next year at this time to give thanks for continued
progress, that Thanksgiving will take on a new meaning, as a milestone in
living, not just in sobriety, but in creating a new and wonderful life full of
the possibilities of summer.
I wait by the phone, to hear happy news.
pawing through the snow
looking for spring, signs of life
nothing but dead leaves
