The Untied Skirt

It is very early in the morning and I'm up for more than an hour now.
The autumn is very winterish this year and it is raining for the second or even third day this week.
At this hour, when the sun is still elsewhere and the street is so quiet, Everything looks shiny and new and the colors are subtle and magical.

I found a little book at the library yesterday.
I was first attracted to its size (did you ever had it?) - it is just the perfect size that makes you want to hold it and put it in your bag and carry with you everywhere.
Than I noticed the cover with a beautiful ancient drawing of a Chinese couple and the title 'Chinese Erotic Poems'.
I grabbed it instantly.

I read it yesterday, all of it, over just an hour, when little M. had her midday nap. It is the perfect company for a gray, quiet autumn day.
I thought I'll share one of my favorite poems with you, along with this exquisite photograph.

2 by hiimmarii.

The Untied Skirt
From 42 Songs

I hold my skirt, sash untied
and stand before the window with unpainted eyebrows.
Silk clothes fly open so easily.
If my skirt opens, I'll blame the spring wind!


Zi Ye (3rd-4th Centuries CE)

Advice to Writers

Even if it keeps you up all night,
wash down the walls and scrub the floor
of your study before composing a syllable.

Clean the place as if the Pope were on his way.
Spotlessness is the niece of inspiration.

The more you clean, the more brilliant
your writing will be, so do not hesitate to take
to the open fields to scour the undersides
of rocks or swab in the dark forest
upper branches, nests full of eggs.

When you fiind your way back home
and stow the sponges and brushes under the sink,
you will behold in the light of dawn
the immaculate altar of your desk,
a clean surface in the middle of a clean world.

From a small vase, sparkling blue, lift
a yellow pencil, the sharpest of the bouquet,
and cover pages with tiny sentences
like long rows of devoted ants
that followed you in from the woods.

Billy Collins
from Sailing Alone Around the Room

It came right on time.
This line - 'Spotlessness is the niece of inspiration' and also 'a clean surface in the middle of a clean world'.

I'm going to devote Easter Monday to cleaning. Oh, you wait and see how bright and brilliant I'll become after that!


Found at bobulate (via the always inspiring SwissMiss)