This brief story is about what we need as opposed to what we think we need, and how the gap between the two can sometimes be bridged by a tiger's whisker...

Alberico Collina

"A woman begged the shaman for a potion to make her husband love her again. She explained that before her husband fought in the war, he was warm, loving, and he laughed easily. But since his return he was angry, distant, and humorless. The more she tried to hug her husband, tease him, and draw him back to her, the worse it became. The shaman was her last hope. He listened patiently to the woman’s story. When she was finished, he said, “I think I can help you. I will make you a love potion but you must go find one of the ingredients.” She said she would. Then he told her to get a whisker from a live tiger. She was distraught, ”How can I possibly get a whisker from a beast as fierce and powerful as a tiger?” The shaman shrugged and left her to her tears.
The next day she went to a place where she had once seen a tiger. On that day, she saw nothing more than monkeys fighting in the trees and birds flying. On the second day, she stayed a little longer and found a comfortable place to sit. But she did not see the tiger. Weeks passed. One morning she sensed the tiger’s presence before she saw him. She didn’t move, but the tiger saw her anyway and ran away. It was a week before she saw him again. Curious, the tiger stopped running away. Finally, after weeks of bringing the tiger good things to eat and ever so slowly reaching out to pet him, he finally was so comfortable with the woman that he fell asleep under her stroking hand. Once he was asleep she took a very sharp knife and gently cut one single whisker from the tiger’s muzzle.
The next day she brought this whisker to the shaman, and asked for the potion that would make her husband love her again. The shaman said “You do not need any potion. Throw away the whisker, keep the knowledge you have gained, and your husband will learn to love you once more.”

-Somali tale from Ethiopia (from The Story Factor by Annette Simmons)

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing 
and rightdoing there is a field.
I'll meet you there.”

quote by the Persian Sufi poet Rumi (1207-1273)

I'd like to think it's always summer in this field, where lovers meet in the shade of an oak tree, carrying their favourite books to read to each other. But there again that's just me; everybody's entitled to their own field.

Alberico Collina

Pirueta (Pirouette) is one of my favourite caprichos (capriccios) written by the legendary Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca (1898-1936). It's a playful and sincere ode to eloquence.

Alberico Collina

Pirouette (by Federico Garcia Lorca translated by Jerome Rothenberg)

If the alphabet should die
then everything would die.
Whose words are
wings.

The whole of life
dependent on
four letters.

In the original:

Pirueta (Federico Garcia Lorca)

Si muriera el alfabeto,
moririan todas las cosas.
Las parablas
son las alas.

La vida entera
depende
de cuatro letras.

This is another gem from this most inspired Persian poet, who makes every word count.

Alberico Collina


The Happy Virus
by Hafez (c1320-1389) translated by Daniel Ladinsky

I caught the happy virus last night

When I was out singing beneath the stars.

It is remarkably contagious -

So kiss me.

The small man

Builds cages for everyone

He

Knows.

While the sage,

Who has to duck his head

When the moon is low,

Keeps dropping keys all night long

For the

Beautiful

Rowdy

Prisoners.