Wild berry of the mid afternoon dew
You are my mist and I am your rain
You are my golden lotus
My sweet lavender of the distant land
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Open up my peony blossom and let me witness
the great typhoon and the bursting clouds
In the valley of solitude between two erupting volcanoes, there lived only one turtle. For many years the turtle put his head and body in a shell that was too big. One misty-rainy morning he decided to kick himself out of his shell and swim in a warm and salty pond without his smelly shell. At first he felt naked and started blushing like a young girl. He noticed that all the algae in the pond were giggling while he passed above them. But the freedom of swimming without his hard and smelly shell was more important to him than a few giggles of some insignificant algae that were doomed to spend the rest of their dirty lives at the bottom of a pond. These algae could never feel the freshness of rain drops, they could never taste wild berry of the mid afternoon dew, they would never be able to witness the opening of a peony blossom or talk to beautiful blushing orchids of the valley, and they couldn't even smell the sweet lavender that covered the ground just to make the landscape a little prettier. He was so happy that he forgot that a turtle needs to rest even without a shell. The sun slowly changed color, it started losing its brightness, the moon started its night shift, it was the time for the sun to go to sleep. All the algae were also tired of giggling at the funny turtle. Suddenly the turtle's motion became erratic. He was in the middle of the pond, he had to get out of a pond that was getting cold and was losing its salty taste. He remembered that he could close his eyes only on the ground. Could he reach the shore of his dreams? Could he find a hard ground to get to his nightly kingdom? Could he be able to talk to the blushing orchids again? Could he erupt with joy while watching the volcanoes sending each other passionate lavas? Could he, could he, could he, ..........? The moon was shining and all the stars were blinking in harmony. The only sound in the valley of solitude was the murmur of love coming from the passionate volcanoes that amused themselves by spewing hot lava at each other. A beautiful turtle was sleeping in her soft and tender shell not far from the shore. In her dream she saw a naked turtle swimming toward her, he was getting closer and closer; he was shivering, he seemed exhausted. Now he was so close that she could smell his breath. By offering her two beautiful pearls streaming from his eyes he gently asked her if she could share her soft and cozy shell with him. He told her that he needed a shell to reach his dreamland. His head was now inside of her warm shell but the body could not get in her small shell. The volcanoes were tired now; they went to sleep like any other lovers after a long night of love fight. The stars were losing their luster; the moon was ready to hide its dark side. The clouds and rain played another dance and the beautiful orchids blushed once more. Everything came back to life but the naked turtle could not witness the solitude of this morning. |
