leaf

how many nights…

Stay at Home Order … day 11 plus 14 seclusion retreat days

“The sight of the leaves ever reminds me strangely of my own sadness. I cannot go within, but lie on the veranda; mayhap my end is not far off. I feel a vague anger that others are in comfortable sleep and cannot sympathize with me. Just now I hear the faint cry of a wild goose.* Others will not be touched by it, but I cannot endure the sound.

How many nights, alas!-

Sleepless-

Only the calls of the wild geese-

~The Diary of Izumi Shikibu (cited: Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan)

isolation

*Footnote within the Diary of Court Ladies of Old Japan notes that the “wild geese visit Japan in Autumn and fly away northwards in the early spring. They are never alone, and their cries calling to each other make the solitary woman feel loneliness more keenly.”

May you be well. May you be safe. May you find solace.

early morning readings

leafstudy111218web

Nikon D750   f/5.6   1/400s   135mm   400 ISO

… You press your mind, your forehead, against the beginning of a book, the cool cover of it, appreciating its impenetrability. It is rectangular and thick, heavy enough to stop a bullet or press a leaf flat. It will, you think, never let you through. And then you begin to lean into it, applying little attentive pressure, and the early pages begin to curl back with a soft, radish-slicing sound, and you’re in. You’re in the book. The thick, segmental chapters fan out into their component pages, and each turned page dematerializes itself, once read, into the fluent, cajoling voice its words carry. …When you reach the last sentence, there rests under you left thumb a monolithic clump of paper through which, it seems, you could not possibly have traveled. ~N Baker (preface), A Book of Books

autumn with basho

Will you turn toward me?

I am lonely too,

this autumn evening.

~Basho (F. Bowers, The Classic Traditions of Haiku)

autumn

I felt compelled to update this earlier post to invite you to visit LdG luciledegodoy  who earlier noted my image inspired her to post a photograph she created a few days ago. I invite you to hop on over to visit her post and while there listen to Eva Cassidy’s wondrous voice and the story of her life.

seven day photo challenge: day 7

7daybnw7web

The rules to the Seven Day Photo Challenge challenge are, “…is one black and white photo from your own life each day for seven days. No people depicted, no words of explanation. Invite one other person to join each day.”

Since I’m uncomfortable with the process of inviting others to join, I will extend the invitation from Emilio to those who let me know they would like to join.