Enga mellom fjella

A picture of Rose with White dragon and Crane

A Picture of Rose with her White Dragon and Crane

         for Rose

She had man hands:
fingers stained yellow from ripe pomegranates,
stained black from the rust.
Fingers played rough over white tiles
choosing which would do well in her garden
which were weeds to be carefully plucked

(they may be flowers for others).

After one crack and one bam,
she rubbed soap in rough hands,
threw it out, announced it was useless

(she hoped it was useless for others as well).

Mah Jong was tough.
Rose flicked her man hands in hope and disgust:
yellow and black, rust-stained and rough.

© 2008 Kåre Enga [165.328b] 2008-11-06

At Mah Jong, Rose mentioned she had man hands (she works in a lab). She said they were stained yellow from pomegranates (or permanganate?) and black from rust. Soap = white dragon (there are also red and green); bam = bamboo, 1 bamboo = crane; 1 crack = 1 picture; there are tiles known as flowers (and Rose is a flower with thorns ). It's a Mah Jong poem and not likely to be properly understood outside of that context. It's for Rose ... she'll get it. Just hope she and everyone else at Mah Jong like it.

ME:

The sun is playing peek-a-boo. I'm still inside having stayed up late to finish a book and having cooked a meal of leeks, mushrooms and London broil (it was cheaper than ground beef) with pasta. I'll need to get out and take a walk. Maybe even remember to pick up milk?

Montana: 51º at 13:30. Bright.

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