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| Veckans blomma: Indisk lotus |
Lotusblomman förekommer ofta som dekorativt motiv i indisk, östasiatisk och egyptisk konst. Inom indisk konst utgör den en symbol för Buddhas tron. Inom östasiatisk konst symboliserar lotusblomman renheten och sommaren.
Mitt första diktval, den är skriven av den indiske nobelpristagaren Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941).
From "Poetry Magazine", February 2012.
On the day when the lotus bloomed, alas, my mind was straying, and I knew it not. My basket was empty and the flower remained unheeded.
Only now and again a sadness fell upon me, and I started up from my dream and felt a sweet trace of a strange smell in the south wind.
That vague fragrance made my heart ache with longing, and it seemed to me that it was the eager breath of the summer seeking for its completion.
I knew not then that it was so near, that it was mine, and this perfect sweetness had blossomed in the depth of my own heart.
***
Lotus växer i vattendrag från Japan och Kina till nordöstra Australien. Bladskivorna sitter på 1-2 m höga skaft. De har en starkt vattenavstötande yta som gör att vatten trillar av som silverglänsande droppar.
Lotus Dam, by Les Murray (f. 1938)
(from The daylight moon, and other poems. New York : Persea Books, 1988.)
Lotus leaves, standing feet above the water
collect at their centre a perfect lens of rain
and heel, and tip it back into the water.
Their baby leaves are feet again, or slant lips
scrolled in declaration; pointed at toe and heel
they echo an unwalked sole in their pale green crinkles
and under blown and picket blooms, the floor
of floating leaves rolls light rainwater marbles
back and forth on sharkskins of anchored rippling.
Each speculum, pearl and pebble of the first water
rides, sprung with weight, on its live mirroring skin
tipped green and loganberry, till one or other sky
redeems it, beneath bent foils and ferruled canes
where cupped pink bursts all day, above riddled water.
***
Hela växten är ätlig och i Asien används alla delar i matlagningen. Fröna äts färska eller torkas. Kronbladen kan friteras. Bladen äts som unga, äldre blad kan ångkokas med fyllning. Jordstammen steks, kokas eller läggs in som pickles.
Jag avslutar med en ren hyllningsdikt, signerad Roderic Quinn (1867-1949).
The Lotus-Flower, by Roderic Quinn
(from Poems. Sydney : Angus & Robertson, 1920.)
All the heights of the high shores gleam
Red and gold at the sunset hour:
There comes the spell of a magic dream,
And the Harbour seems a lotus-flower;
A blue flower tinted at dawn with gold,
A broad flower blazing with light at noon,
A flower forever with charms to hold
His heart, who sees it by sun or moon.
Its beauty burns like a ceaseless fire,
And tower looks over the top of tower;
For all mute things it would seem, aspire
To catch a glimpse of the lotus-flower.
Men meet its beauty with furrowed face,
And straight the furrows are smoothed away;
They buy and sell in the market-place,
And languor leadens their blood all day.
At night they look on the flower, and lo!
The City passes with all its cares:
They dream no more in its azure glow,
Of gold and silver and stocks and shares.
The Lotus dreams 'neath the dreaming skies,
Its beauty touching with spell divine
The grey old town, till the old town lies
Like one half-drunk with a magic wine.
Star-loved, it breathes at the midnight hour
A sense of peace from its velvet mouth.
Though flowers be fair -- is there any flower
Like this blue flower of the radiant South?
Sun-loved and lit by the moon it yields
A challenge-glory or glow serene,
And men bethink them of jewelled shields,
A turquoise lighting a ground of green.
Fond lovers pacing beside it see
Not death and darkness, but life and light,
And dream no dream of the witchery
The Lotus sheds on the silent night.
Pale watchers weary of watching stars
That fall, and fall, and forever fall,
Tear-worn and troubled with many scars,
They seek the Lotus and end life's thrall.
The spirit spelled by the Lotus swoons,
Its beauty summons the artist mood;
And thus, perchance, in a thousand moons
Its spell shall work in our waiting blood.
Then souls shall shine with an old-time grace,
And sense be wrapped in a golden trance,
And art be crowned in the market-place
With Love and Beauty and fair Romance.
***
Nu är jag redo för en ny blomma, såväl i bloggen som i det verkliga livet, "with love and beauty and fair romance".
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