Into the Heart

“How can we not create a fantasy 

in our minds when the reality is so hard? 

~ Lisa See, “Peony in Love”

By Divine Ms. Moon

  

A friend of mine posted elsewhere today about a 70-year-old woman who claims to be a virgin, and who has waited all this time for the right man. Well, really, who hasn’t? But anyway, the woman claims that she is now ready for love.

I don’t know what that thought does for you, but it made me think of this poem by an anonymous Chinese author from the Ming Dynasty –

All night long, clouds pile up and wild showers fall,

the intent lovers numb to time as night passes.

As dew drips into the heart of her peony

her joints all melt and she cannot move.

Such heavy love, heavy love,

she falls into the Kingdom of Dreams!

By Divine Ms. Moon

*The term "Kingdom of Dreams" is said to refer to a mythical land called Hua Xu that the "Great Yellow Emperor" dreamed of visiting, where people lived "naturally and full of joy." In other words, a sort of Shangri-La. (T. Barnstone and C. Ping, trans. and ed., Chinese Erotic Poems (Everyman's 2007)).