Witness ( #haibun poetry )

Colleen’s Challenge

Night sky of wonder
strewn with delights and desires
birthing endless stars

Orion flexes a dazzling display to woo an aloof and shimmering Cassiopeia,
bathing the dark sky in a sintilating sparkle of beauty.
But none of it trickles onto the mundane earth below
Down beneath that gorgeous night-sky, an eerie squeal pierces the silence!

I stand sentinel on the doorstep of a beleaguered hut and turn to look inside,
thus I bare witness to the polarizing event within.
Icy shards scrape through my nerves as my gaze falls on the haggard features of a woman in agony.
The man besides her hums a gentle hymn in an attempt to soothe her pain and succor her strain.
‘Shut up!’ she yells at him, grimacing in effort, a steely resolve etching itself onto her wearied features.
She braces herself then bellows a final collosal scream that rents…