A haibun by Margaret Dornaus

So, having winded up to some extent the work that had kept me busy most of the month, I am back at my desk again ,catching up on all my reading and generally splashing about in the haiku pond. I have missed so much action in the past few weeks...one of them being "your most beautiful thing", a project by Fiona Robin to celebrate her first novel and which I'd really would have liked to participate in; but come to think of it, what would I write about? My family? My daughter? These rain clouds? This forest path disappearing in a blue haze? This life? Choosing the most beautiful thing would really land me in a dilemma! Many others have written beautifully though, about this in their blogs.And when I read Margaret Dornaus' haibun in her blog Haiku doodle, it touched a chord. I , too, was reminded of the city that I left behind so many years ago and yet the overpowering sense of belonging I still feel with it.

So here is what Margaret writes about her most beautiful thing. I decided to bring it here straightaway on my blog for those of you who are too lazy even to click on a link.

My most beautiful thing . . .

Posted on April 24, 2012

I grew up on the Oklahoma plains, but I never felt part of it until I moved away. Then I realized that the place I came from is like my people. Wild and raw and expansive. With long horizon lines and dust-filled skies that turn the sunsets into rivers of light. Ugly and beautiful. Dangerous and tame. Alive.

late autumn
the buffalo’s shadow moves
through the tall grass


--Margaret Dornaus

The wild open plains of Oklahoma and the dusty, noisy city of Calcutta are not, cannot be alike. But some things remain the same. The connection with one's land, for one.Ugly and beautiful, that too! And above all,
'Alive'.

Thanks Margaret, for sharing this with us all. For letting me use this on my blog. And for reminding me of one more beautiful thing in my life through your exquisite haibun.