Four

A haiku with a quiet reflection

Public domain image created by ChatGPT

four in the morning — a piece of bakelite lands in his tea

—

There is a peculiar clarity that belongs only to the hour before dawn, when fatigue softens the boundary between the ordinary and the unexpected. A quiet cup of tea should offer comfort, yet the small piece of bakelite arrives like an unwelcome interruption, hinting at something beneath familiar routines.

The prompt’s echo of the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland lends the moment a faint air of absurdity, where everyday mishaps seem touched by the strange logic of a dream. Nothing dramatic unfolds, yet the smallest object quietly shifts the mood of the morning.

Such moments remind us how easily certainty can fracture, leaving us to pause over what should have been unremarkable. Even the first sip of the day can carry a whisper of the unexpected.

First published on NaHaiWriMo.

Curious how these small moments become haiku? I’ve written a short guide called *The Three-Minute Haiku System*, which shows a simple way to turn an observation into a draft haiku in just a few minutes.