Instructions

Touch the wooden gate in the wall you never saw before.
Say “please” before you open the latch,
Go through,
Walk down the path.
A red metal imp hangs from the green-painted front door,
As a knocker,
Do not touch it; it will bite your fingers.
Walk through the house. Take nothing. Eat nothing.
However,
If any creature tells you that it hungers,
Feed it.
If it tells you that it is dirty,
Clean it.
If it cries to you that it hurts,
If you can,
Ease its pain.

From the back garden you will be able to see the wild wood.
The deep well you walk past leads to winter’s realm;
There is another land at the bottom of it.
If you turn around here,
You can walk back safely;
You will lose no face. I will think no less of you.

Once through the garden you will be in the wood.
The trees are old. Eyes peer from the undergrowth.
Beneath a twisted oak sits an old woman. She may ask for something;
Give it to her. She
Will point the way to the castle.
Inside it are three princesses.
Do not trust the youngest. Walk on.
In the clearing beyond the caste the twelve months sit about a fire,
Warming their feet, exchanging tales.
They may do favors for you, if you are polite.
You may pick strawberries in December’s frost.
Trust the wolves, but do not tell them where you are going.
The river can be crossed by the ferry. The ferry-man will take you.
(The answer to his question is this:
If he hands the oar to his passenger, he will be free to leave the boat.
Only tell him this from a safe distance.)

If an eagle gives you a feather, keep it safe.
Remember: that giants sleep too soundly; that
Witches are often betrayed by their appetites;
Dragons have one soft spot, somewhere, always;
Hearts can be well-hidden,
And you betray them with your tongue.

Do not be jealous of your sister.
Know that diamonds and roses
Are as uncomfortable when they tumble from one’s lips as toads and frogs:
Colder, too, and sharper, and they cut.

Remember your name.
Do not lose hope — what you seek will be found.
Trust ghosts. Trust those that you have helped to help you in their turn.
Trust dreams.
Trust your heart, and trust your story.
When you come back, return the way you came.
Favors will be returned, debts be repaid.
Do not forget your manners.
Do not look back.
Ride the wise eagle (you shall not fall)
Ride the silver fish (you will not drown)
Ride the gray wolf (hold tightly to his fur).

There is a worm at the heart of the tower; that is why it will not stand.

When you reach the little house, the place your journey started,
You will recognize it, although it will seem much smaller than you remember.
Walk up the path, and through the garden gate you never saw but once.
And then go home. Or make a home.

Or rest.

- Neil Gaiman

 

Tealuxe, Harvard Square

Chocolate Raspberry Tea, originally uploaded by mer-made.

 

Mirror, Mirror

Mirror, Mirror, originally uploaded by mer-made.

 

Tea

I like pouring your tea, lifting
the heavy pot, and tipping it up,
so the fragrant liquid streams in your china cup.

Or when you’re away, or at work,
I like to think of your cupped hands as you sip,
as you sip, of the faint half-smile of your lips.

I like the questions – sugar? – milk? –
and the answers I don’t know by heart, yet,
for I see your soul in your eyes, and I forget.

Jasmine, Gunpowder, Assam, Earl Grey, Ceylon,
I love tea’s names. Which tea would you like? I say
but it’s any tea for you, please, any time of day,

as the women harvest the slopes
for the sweetest leaves, on Mount Wu-Yi,
and I am your lover, smitten, straining your tea.

- Carol Ann Duffy

 

Sky Bar

Sky Bar, originally uploaded by mer-made.

 

“Sweet Baby James”

There is a young cowboy, he lives on the range.
His horse and his cattle are his only companions.
He works in the saddle and he sleeps in the canyons;
Waiting for summer, his pastures to change.

And as the moon rises, he sits by his fire,
Thinking about women and glasses of beer.
And closing his eyes as the doggies retire,
He sings out a song which is soft but it’s clear;
As if maybe someone could hear.

Goodnight, you moonlight ladies.
Rockabye, sweet baby James.
Deep greens and blues are the colors I choose,
Won’t you let me go down in my dreams,
And rockabye sweet baby James.

Now the first of December was covered with snow,
And so was the Turnpike from Stockbridge to Boston.
Lord, the Berkshires seemed dream-like on account of that frosting,
With ten miles behind me, and ten thousand more to go.

There’s a song that they sing when they take to the highway,
A song that they sing when they take to the sea.
A song that they sing of their home in the sky.
Maybe you can believe it if it helps you to sleep;
But singing works just fine for me.

So goodnight, you moonlight ladies.
Rockabye, sweet baby James.
Deep greens and blues are the colors I choose,
Won’t you let me go down in my dreams,
And rockabye sweet baby James.

- James Taylor, Sweet Baby James

 

Exhibitionism

Want to know a secret?
I only freeze to hide.
Wrapped into my skin,
I turn the heat up when I’m alone
Stretch, skitter down the hallway
bare-footed, bare-headed, bare-faced,
and back into the warmth
Where the steaming water pours through thick air,
When I’m home alone,
I answer the telephone naked,
I dance in the shower, roll like an otter in the bath tub.
But I’m hidden, under covers
Under a thick blanket,
With the lights off and the stereo quiet,
Doors, windows closed,
When the car pulls into the driveway,
They find the thermostat where they left it.

- Claire Leon

 

Pearl

Pearl, originally uploaded by mer-made.

 

Camera Obscura – Razzle Dazzle Rose

Change file extention to the obvious to listen. (And please comment if said work-around doesn’t work.)

c:\merveille\mp3s\cameraobscura\track10

 

January

Again I reply to the triple winds
running chromatic fifths of derision
outside my window:
Play louder.
You will not succeed. I am
bound more to my sentences
the more you batter at me
to follow you.
And the wind,
as before, fingers perfectly
its derisive music.

- William Carlos Williams