watch this old, old woman clean & fill her pipe. do you see the decades of practice, experience, & skill? do you see her reverence? do you see the extended depths of her mind? do you see the size & shape of her life in the simple act?
watch carefully now to see what she does w/ the wheel of the stone. she brings the totality of her affection together w/ the totality of her intellect & takes this then as clay & spins it upon the wheel & molds it w/ heightened intuition. she's addressing the cardinal of the town, giving him astounding attention, labor, & useful product. the cardinal is a fool & probably won't recognize one least bit of the worth of what he'll receive.
look about her & her room. see the fewness of what's there. look about each facet of each item. see the clear necessity of each. in her own south american way, she's as much a buddhist as anyone. see the maturity about her, grown w/ care over decades. bonsai grace. look at her great & intense understanding of death.
years & years ago, she lost herself in the purity of her life. i find her to be absolutely amazing. because i have such a long, long way to go.
two months ago, i brought her a drawing. she gazed at it for a few minutes & then felt the paper & the lines upon it. she placed it down & arose. she prepared some salt water & instilled it w/ a drop of iodine. she then soaked the drawing in it. when it had been thoroughly soaked & then thoroughly dried, she briefly baked it in low heat. the result of her actions astonished me. (her actions alone did that. that she would treat my gift to such irreparable change slightly shocked me at first.) the result of her actions showed me the drawing in ways that i hadn't the least clue of before. depth & form w/ an electric patina that exhibited it's inner life, the drawing was freed of it's raw & unborn state. it functioned. moved & breathed w/ life, it's own skillful life. she saw my reaction & touched me upon the forehead much in the same fashion as she had the lines on the paper. i learned from that touch. what i learned i am still as yet trying to understand & articulate.
watch this woman as often as you can. she's always seemed to me like she might not be w/ us long despite her seeming great inner strength & the surprising vigor she has despite her age, like her time is extremely valuable & she is spending it on us as if that to her was the wisest & best thing she could do w/ it. my suggestion is to respect that possibility deeply & to watch her very, very carefully.
i do not know her name & have never heard her speak a word.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
momijizukamori
matron elders are a constant theme for me
Date: 2010-07-02 10:38 am (UTC)watch this old, old woman clean & fill her pipe. do you see
the decades of practice, experience, & skill? do you see her
reverence? do you see the extended depths of her mind? do you
see the size & shape of her life in the simple act?
watch carefully now to see what she does w/ the wheel of the
stone. she brings the totality of her affection together w/ the
totality of her intellect & takes this then as clay & spins it
upon the wheel & molds it w/ heightened intuition. she's
addressing the cardinal of the town, giving him astounding
attention, labor, & useful product. the cardinal is a fool &
probably won't recognize one least bit of the worth of what
he'll receive.
look about her & her room. see the fewness of what's there.
look about each facet of each item. see the clear necessity of
each. in her own south american way, she's as much a buddhist
as anyone. see the maturity about her, grown w/ care over
decades. bonsai grace. look at her great & intense
understanding of death.
years & years ago, she lost herself in the purity of her life.
i find her to be absolutely amazing. because i have such a
long, long way to go.
two months ago, i brought her a drawing. she gazed at it for a
few minutes & then felt the paper & the lines upon it. she
placed it down & arose. she prepared some salt water &
instilled it w/ a drop of iodine. she then soaked the drawing
in it. when it had been thoroughly soaked & then thoroughly
dried, she briefly baked it in low heat. the result of her
actions astonished me. (her actions alone did that. that she
would treat my gift to such irreparable change slightly shocked
me at first.) the result of her actions showed me the drawing
in ways that i hadn't the least clue of before. depth & form w/
an electric patina that exhibited it's inner life, the drawing
was freed of it's raw & unborn state. it functioned. moved &
breathed w/ life, it's own skillful life. she saw my reaction &
touched me upon the forehead much in the same fashion as she
had the lines on the paper. i learned from that touch. what i
learned i am still as yet trying to understand & articulate.
watch this woman as often as you can. she's always seemed to
me like she might not be w/ us long despite her seeming great
inner strength & the surprising vigor she has despite her age,
like her time is extremely valuable & she is spending it on us
as if that to her was the wisest & best thing she could do w/
it. my suggestion is to respect that possibility deeply & to
watch her very, very carefully.
i do not know her name & have never heard her speak a word.