Can hygge be outside? Yes it can, because whenever we go indoors from a chilly outdoors, hygge is needed for comfort. A winter walk followed by a bowl of homemade soup; a cup of tea after doing some gardening; a settling down after a journey. All these are hygge. I’ve arranged these three poems seasonally, starting with a very cold haibun, and a spring poem, then a poem looking at a tree in different seasons and finding comfort there.

Photo by Angela Topping

SUB-ZERO

It’s Boxing Day, noon.  And down “The Shroppie”, a mile below Bunbury, a solitary narrowboat lies trapped against the bank in ice and snow.  The boatman, a cheery soul, chops logs.  Only the fragrant woodsmoke from his boat’s stove mars the dazzling white.

Now a large hare scurries, skidding, over the frozen canal with a buzzard in pursuit.  They vanish from view but a thin cry…