Vacation's End

At the airport they wait for their flight home.

The sadness he has been holding inside all morning can no longer be contained. As he thinks of the loss of the fleeting, happy moments of the last few days he is overcome with emotion. The thought of leaving his son is too much. He can not hold back the tears any longer. He goes to the men's room, sits in a stall, and sobs.

As he sits there, he wonders what the man in the adjacent stall with his pants around his ankles must be thinking.

After a while he decides that it is time to stop crying. He takes in a few long, shuddering breaths, then blows his nose on a folded length of toilet paper. He washes his face with cold water and leaves the men's room.

He buys a newspaper and returns to his seat at the gate, waiting for their flight to be called.

It snows

Winter solitude -
In a world of one color
The sound of wind.

- Basho


Just being here,
I am here,
And the snow falls.

- Issa


Loneliness, my everyday life.
The sweeping winds pass on the night-bell sound.

- Ching An