Monday, May 16, 2016

The Iris: Fair Among the Fairest



From The Met at Pinterest:
In an episode from the Japanese literary classic "The Tales of Ise," a young aristocrat happens upon a place called Eight Bridges. Admiring the lush growth of irises, he composes a poem of five lines—each beginning with one syllable of the Japanese word for iris—that expresses his longing for a loved one left behind in the capital: "I have a beloved wife, / Familar as the skirt / Of a well-worn robe, / And so this distant journeying / Fills my heart with grief." (Read more.)

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