Last night, I wrote the following haiku after being surprised by the time.

up too late—
time keeps slipping
away

夜更かしや時はするりと消えてゆく
yofukashi ya toki wa sururito kiete yuku

^{Kawase Hasui, "Moon at Magome"}

My wife and I usually take turns reading bedtime stories to our kids. Her turn uses Japanese stories and my turn uses English. Last night was my turn. I really enjoy sharing these stories with my kids. @dkid14 posted a great example of why the other day. Not only do I get to share some of my favorite stories like Treasure Island and The Hobbit, but these young adult books are full of great lessons that spark meaningful discussions with my kids. I told @azircon the other day about one called The Miracles of the Namiya General Store by Keigo Higashino. I had picked it up because the cover looked interesting and claimed it was a magical story for kids. Not only was it great, but it contained a lot of great lessons that I could pause while we were reading and talk to my kids about.

Anyway, last night I finished reading to them by around 8:30 pm. I hugged them and kissed them goodnight then left them to Mr Sandman. I showered, bathed, and sat down at my desk to check on Hive and Discord before bed—maybe even write something longhand with one of my fountain pens if time allowed.

I replied to comments on my latest post and made some comments on various posts, then closed the laptop, thinking "Ahh finally, now to relax and write a little". Then my eyes landed on the time—10 p.m. What the what! 10 already?! I have to get up around 5am so 10 is kind of my limit if I want a decent night's sleep. I sighed and started for bed, then the haiku above came to me—so I sat back down and took a few minutes out of my sleeping time to write it down.

❦

David is an American teacher and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Mastodon. 【Support @dbooster with Hive SBI】