city loneliness
a sparrow drops
into its shadow
Published by
Dru Philippou
Dru Philippou is a Cypriot–British-American writer and poet with a lifelong career in education. A two-time nominee for the Pushcart Prize in 2006, her work appears in twelve editions of the Red Moon Anthology and other notable publications. Philippou won an honorable mention in the Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Award 2008, and in 2024 she took first prize in the Peggy Willis Lyles Haiku Awards. Following honourable mentions in three Genjuan International Haibun Contests (2015, 2017, and 2018), among others, her "Afterlife" won first place in the Haiku Society of America’s 2021 Haibun Awards, and "Pilgrimage" received the same recognition in 2023. Her tanka prose memoir, A Place to Land, was published in 2022. Philippou has lived in northern New Mexico, since 1995. View all posts by Dru Philippou
Thanks to DRU PHILIPPOU for a haiku with depth and tenderness.
Dru, I feel the depth of your despair. But this haiku is not just a cry of existential pain. It is also a prayer – a Psalm. It recalls the verse: "a sparrow does not fall to ground without your Father in heaven knowing about it".
The shadow is dark but only exists because there is a source of light.
This poem reminds me that even in the anonymity of a heartless city there is cause for hope.
Strider
Especially love this one.
I wondered if the bird was plummeting from a building into its own shadow, or that of the city – or a point where both shadows merge? I really like this one.
marion