I carry this noose
I carry this noose around in case anyone needs it, they only
have to ask. After each use, I untie it, wash it thoroughly, and reconstruct it
carefully. Those are sad days, after it’s been used, when I’m waiting for the
fibres to dry and don’t feel I can go out. One matronly lady has tried it
several times, just can’t seem to get on with it but credit to her for trying I
say, it doesn’t suit everyone. It certainly suited one feller who sought to
sport it, décor de moribondage, at a party that went wrong, or
right, or both perhaps, things can be both right and wrong, in the end, it
seems. Sometimes I think I should get more up to date, maybe offer some of
these fashionable nylon numbers, you can have a range of colours, I expect the
townsfolk would like that. But I’m a traditionalist, I grew up with the touch
of yarn, the plies and braids of hemp, the artificial is not for me.
I went to the sage
I went to the sage to ask if she would take me as a student.
A long journey through four seasons. She spoke quietly and simply, glancing at
me from time to time as she drew skillfully on a sheet. This had the effect of
making me try to keep very still, without having been asked, but it also caused
me to be slightly inattentive. Finally she explained that I was not ready to be
her student, and gave me the portrait, so that I understood immediately. Thus
am I able to say, I have learned directly from the wisdom of the sage.