japonisme: when i fall in love

14 July 2010

when i fall in love

(to set the mood,
i must first ask you to
CLICK BELOW)
then close your eyes.)



why this, now? i finally found a friend,
from 40 years ago.

A LOVE SONG

What have I to say to you
When we shall meet?
Yet—
I lie here thinking of you.

The stain of love
Is upon the world.
Yellow, yellow, yellow,
It eats into the leaves,
Smears with saffron
The horned branches that lean
Heavily
Against a smooth purple sky.

There is no light—
Only a honey-thick stain
That drips from leaf to leaf
And limb to limb
Spoiling the colours
Of the whole world.

I am alone.
The weight of love
Has buoyed me up
Till my head
Knocks against the sky.

See me!
My hair is dripping with nectar—
Starlings carry it
On their black wings.
See, at last
My arms and my hands
Are lying idle.

How can I tell
If I shall ever love you again
As I do now?

William Carlos Williams

first published in Poems 1916.

and all i can say is how little we've learned,and yet too much,

interlude




In this world
love has no color --
yet how deeply
my body
is stained by yours.

Izami Shikibu
tran. Jane Hirshfield




interlude



i can't remember ever --
well, not for a long time, anyway --
feeling this way:
being offered, now,
what i may have wanted then,
but recognizing how
it was never what i thought.

and it's painful very deeply inside.
that his life, i think,
has been destroyed
by his unavoidable
misunderstandings.

the pain comes, of course,
witnessing his pain,
and knowing by osmosis
it once was mine.

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6 Comments:

Blogger vitalik shu said...

OMG!! your blog is treasure chest!!!!!billion thanks )))))))

15 July, 2010 01:23  
Blogger lotusgreen said...

thank you and welcome, vitalik. people like you make me more brave.

15 July, 2010 11:16  
Anonymous evan said...

It's been a while since a post (I just got around to reading this- been busy!). You OK? In love? Which I suppose could bring us back to- you OK :) ?

03 August, 2010 07:56  
Blogger lotusgreen said...

ahhh-- in love with my life and my cat and my garden. :^) and myself. i seem to have fallen down a well paved in buttons. i'm removing seams from all my old clothes in hopes of recombinations. i imitate penelope and embroider all day then rip it out at night.

03 August, 2010 12:45  
Anonymous evan said...

ah...& like Penelope, you probably live by the shore of the oddest sea...:)

04 August, 2010 12:46  
Blogger lotusgreen said...

how bright you are and of a salted heart, like me.

04 August, 2010 13:05  

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hi, and thanks so much for stopping by. i spend all too much time thinking my own thoughts about this stuff, so please tell me yours. i thrive on the exchange!

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