Continuing on with the story……
THE STILLNESS OF DEATH
“My heart, like my clothing
Is saturated with your fragrance.
Your vows of fidelity
Were made to our pillow and not to me.”
—-12th century
–
Kneeling before her tea
Lady Nyo did not move.
She barely breathed-
Tomorrow depended
Upon her action today.
Lord Nyo was drunk again.
When in his cups
The household scattered.
Beneath the kitchen
Was the crawl space
Where three servants
Where hiding.
A fourth wore an iron pot.
Lord Nyo was known
For three things:
Archery-
Temper-
And drink.
Tonight he strung
His seven foot bow,
Donned his quiver
High on his back.
He looked at the pale face
Of his aging wife,
His eyes blurry, unfocused.
He remembered the first time
pillowing her.
She was fifteen.
Her body powdered petals,
Bones like butter,
Black hair like trailing bo silk.
The blush of shy passion
Had coursed through veins
Like a tinted stream.
Still beautiful
Now too fragile for his taste.
Better a plump whore,
Than this delicate, saddened beauty.
He drew back the bow
In quick succession
Let five arrows pierce
The shoji.
Each grazed the shell ear
Of his wife.
Life hung on her stillness.
She willed herself dead.
Death after all these years
Would have been welcome.
Jane Kohut-Bartels
Copyrighted , 2015, “Song of the Nightingale” can be bought on Amazon.com
Tags: "Song of the Nightingale", 16th century Japan, Episode 2
May 12, 2017 at 10:22 pm
Men! So many do prefer the younger woman but a wise man and an adult man prefers the beauty of their longtime wife…they get surprised every now and then.
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May 13, 2017 at 2:17 am
My goodness, this is good. Is this a series?
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May 13, 2017 at 2:21 am
Nevermind… I read on and answered my own question. I will be purchasing this soon. 🙂
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May 13, 2017 at 1:18 pm
Yes they do~! And Lady Nyo has some surprises up her not too wet kimono sleeves. Thank you, Toni, for reading and your comment. LOL!~
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May 13, 2017 at 1:26 pm
Hi Barry! thank you for reading this part of the series. It’s my favorite book, but I didn’t ‘push’ it enough…..it has a lot of psychological development between a marriage, and the lessons from the 16th century apply today. LOL~ And yes, it is a series of 13 episodes. A book…with paintings inside. And calligraphy.
Thanks, Barry.
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May 13, 2017 at 4:03 pm
I already saved it to my Amazon shopping list. I’ll be buying it as soon as my next payday arrives. I’m extremely excited to get this book soon!
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May 13, 2017 at 8:53 pm
Well, Thank You! I love this book, but I am prejudiced. LOL!
A dear friend, Marge Chester from NJ, my home state, who died in 2011….loved this story. When she read Lord Nyo’s description of himself….”an ugly old warrior”, she cried. She told me this the night before she died. And this was when the book was just in story form, not really a complete book yet. Marge was a wonderful friend and cousin by marriage for 24 years. I miss her sweet and smart presence in my life. We only knew each other by email and phone and letters,never having met properly. But she was a beautiful soul. And an inspiration to me while I was writing this book.
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