Twilight Love

That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon these boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou seest the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west;
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death's second self that seals up all in rest
In me thou seest the glowing of such fire,
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the deathbed where on it must expire,
Consumed with that which it was nourished by
          This thou perceivst, which makes thy love more strong
          To love that well, which thou must leave ere long

--Shakespeare,  Sonnet 73

Shakespeare on love and impending loss.  The best of his sonnets, in my opinion.

Plum Blossoms and Moonlight

Taken from the back of a box of Metropolitan Museum of Art Correspondence Cards featuring a plum blossom design modeled on a woodblock print by Suzuki Harunobu:

" One Japanese Poet said, 'On a spring night when the moon shines through a blossoming plum tree growing by the eaves, the moonbeams themselves seem filled with perfume.' "

Iron Bones

"Iron Bones Giving Birth to Spring"

"Learning from Bamboo's Lofty Spirit Though it is Hollow;
     Following the example of Plum Blossoms Which Bloom on Iron Boughs"

"Before Peach and Pear Trees Come into Bloom, Winter
     Plum Blossoms Spring out of Iron-like Trunks"

"Tested by Wind and Frost, Plum Blossoms Smell Stronger;
     People Who Expect Nothing Have More Noble Quality"

---Wang Chengxi, titles from his paintings, collected in A Hundred Plum Blossom Paintings (1992)

Wang Chengxi, a contemporary painter of plum blossoms, continues a tradition in existence since the Tang Dynasty.   In explaining his interest in the plum blossom, Chengzi echoes those of the artists and poets who preceded him who appropriated the plum blossom to signify the coming of spring in both the literal as well as the more figurative sense--rejuvenation after a difficult time, such as illness.  Chengxi writes, "Braving snow and frost, plum trees blossom defiantly to spread their fragrance .  The noble character and morals of the people can be likened to plum blossoms which are burst forth in adverse circumstances and bring encouragement to the world."

The plum blossom is one of the "Three Friends of the Cold" (which includes pine and bamboo, mentioned above) as well as one of "The Four Gentlemen" , which includes orchid (spring)  bamboo (summer) and chrysanthemum (autumn). The plum blossom is an example of what we might call the spiritual underpinnings of the material world.   The strength of the plum tree's "iron bones" which bring forth blossoms in abundance even amidst cold and ice offers us a narrative of resurrection.

Tomorrow's entry will feature plum blossoms once more to celebrate the advent of spring. 

Summer Epiphanies

As promised, I am reprising my focus on artist Joseph Cornell.  Today's quotes come once again from the superb volume of Cornell's letters and diary entries edited by Mary Ann Caws.   Whereas the last set of quotes focused on dreams about food, these will focus on the experience of summer and its relationship to the artist's inspiration.  This season, while represented most commonly by the image of the hammock, also suggests the hum of mental activity, of progress in art.  When Cornell writes that he has a "very warm feeling at night" it's clear that he is not referring to the temperature of his room or of the outdoors.  As Caws clarifies, the asterisk (*) denotes those days on which Cornell experienced an epiphany. Summer is a season of discovery and wonder.

*On the weather beaten gray picket
fence running along the old red
Barn vibrant blue morning glories
entwined.
     ---Summer 1945


August 1946 *
during hot days gathered examples of Golden rod grasses on bike--threshed them down to pulverized
essences for OWL boxes--the pungent odor filled the cellar with Indian summer~very warm feeling at night.


7/17/56 Tues. at home
drop of water too deep for sun so-so day in box work~glistening in sun around 3 PM sunny after rain etc. yesterday grasshopper on side of house
bumblebee in the snapdragons


Friday August 29, '58 Labor Day weekend
[...] scent of mint (atomizer) brings the Adirondacks back* with that poetry of memory and surprise


--Joseph Cornell, Joseph Cornell's Theater of the Mind: Selected Diaries, Letters, and Files, edited by Mary Ann Caws (2000)