The Painting

Your mother never liked the painting – too serious and non-smiling. You were more cheerful, more open and giving. I think of you each day and not because of the reminder on the wall, but because I wonder what you might have done or said. Now, your gaze is cast across the room forever keeping watch.

a gray day today
with no sunrise or sunset
just endless twilight


— Dan Hardison


Portrait of Sammy Hardison
By Philip Perkins
oil on canvas, 1967


Haibun, South by Southeast - 2011, Vol 18, No 3