Dru Philippou
No More Than a Fleeting Shadow
Juniper boughs brush against the windowpane as morning sunlight floods my room. I step outside into the coolness, a welcome balm before the heat of day. I lift the well pump handle and lightly spray the fuchsia, scarlet sage, and lavender lace. Meanwhile a doe munches on hostas and tender rose shoots. I don’t have the urge to shoo her away; instead, I stand back, allowing her to roam. She retreats beneath a blue spruce and blends with the underbrush. Occasionally she raises her head, nose twitching at unfamiliar scents, then returns to browsing—living as if the land belongs to her again, as if I’d never been there.
all around
this majestic universe...
nothing more
than the peaceful
passage of time
About the Author
Dru Philippou lives in northern New Mexico, where hiking in the desert wilderness nourishes her spirit and her writing. Her haibun “Afterlife” won first place in the Haiku Society of America’s 2021 Haibun Awards. Also, her haibun “Pilgrimage” won first place in 2023 in the same contest. She is the author of A Place to Land, a tanka prose memoir.
The prose is beautiful, and its last phrase “as if I’d never been there” made me feel so much respect for the natural world. The tanka is stunning and took all the foibles of my life and transformed them into expansiveness and peace.
Dear Barbara,
I’m grateful that my words could evoke such feelings in you. Your appreciation inspires me to keep writing.