Here's your Daily Poem from the Poetry Chaikhana --
| | Although the wind By Izumi Shikibu
(974? - 1034?) English version by Jane Hirshfield Although the wind
blows terribly here,
the moonlight also leaks
between the roof planks
of this ruined house. 
/ Photo by Fiona Ridger /
|
| ============ Thought for the Day: The solution
is in the present. ============ | Here's your Daily Music selection -- 
Hossein Alizadeh
Endless Vision
Listen - Purchase More Music Selections |
Hi Omss -
We're coming up on the full moon... or perhaps I should say that the full moon is coming up on us. So I thought of this poem.
I love the layered ways our mind interprets the image of this poem.
And a good reminder to us to open enough space between our roof planks to let the moonlight in.
==
Izumi Shikibu is one of the towering figures of Japanese literature. She lived in Kyoto and was an official companion to the empress. She married young, but scandalized the court by abandoning her husband to become the lover of one of the empress's sons. When the prince died a few years later, she took a series of other lovers before eventually marrying for a second time.
She was a social rebel, but willing to be fully engaged in her life. And, like her personal life, Shikibu's poetry mixes elements of eros with the deep awareness that comes from Buddhist meditative practice.
==
Have a magical and illuminating full moon!
Ivan
PS - Poetry Chaikhana Blog and Forum Temporarily Down
Both the blog and the forum are down for the moment on the Poetry Chaikhana website. I am working with my Internet Service Provider to solve a technical problem. I'll try to have both back up soon, but it may take a couple of days. Cyber-gremlins causing a little full moon mischief...
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Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2011 by Ivan M. Granger.
All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or publishers.
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