[Poetry Chaikhana] Izumi Shikibu - Although the wind

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.   -- from Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women, Edited by Jane Hirshfield Amazon.com / Photo by Fiona Ridger /

============ Thought for the Day: The solution is in the present. ============

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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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