For Told

Madame Sosostris, famous clairvoyante,
Had a bad cold, nevertheless
Is known to be the wisest woman in Europe,
With a wicked pack of cards. Here, said she,
Is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor,
(Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!)
Here is Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks,
The lady of situations.
Here is the man with three staves, and here the Wheel,
And here is the one-eyed merchant, and this card,
Which is blank, is something he carries on his back,
Which I am forbidden to see. I do not find
The Hanged Man. Fear death by water.
I see crowds of people, walking round in a ring.
Thank you. If you see dear Mrs. Equitone,
Tell her I bring the horoscope myself:
One must be so careful these days.

TS Elliot

twinkling hoar-frost

Yesterday was Imbolc or the Feast of St. Brigid. Today is Candlemas, but for the sake of Silent Poetry Reading we will pretend that it is Bride's Day. There is something truly wonderful about a goddess of poetry and smithcraft.

In honor of this day of weather forecasting and in hopes for Spring:

On Monday when the sun is hot
I wonder to myself a lot:
"Now is it true, or is it not,
"That what is which and which is what?"

On Tuesday, when it hails and snows,
The feeling on me grows and grows,
That hardly anybody knows
If those are these or these are those.

On Wednesday, when the sky is blue,
And I have nothing else to do,
I sometimes wonder if it's true
That who is what and what is who.

On Thursday when it starts to freeze
And hoar-frost twinkles on the trees,
How very readily one sees
That these are whose - but whose are these?

Lines Written By A Bear of Very Little Brain, AA Milne

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Three new books today:

The Armless Maiden, ed. Terri Windling

Young Buddhists, Loudon

Lupin III vol6, Monkey Punch****CV