POETRY IN MOTION: Chrysanthemum in Silk

Poetry in Korean Silk: a vintage Hanbok cropped jacket in Chrysanthemum Orange. SHOP NOW.

Beside a Chrysanthemum

For one chrysanthemum to bloom

a nightingale

has sobbed since spring, perhaps.

For one chrysanthemum to bloom 

Poem by Korean poet Midang So Chong-ju. All photos by the Citizen Rosebud.

thunder

has pealed in dark clouds, perhaps.

Flower! Like my sister standing

at her mirror, just back

from far away, far away byways of youth,

where she was racked with longing and lack:

last night's frost came down

to bid your yellow petals bloom, perhaps,

while I could not get to sleep.

           
                                     -Midang Sŏ Chŏng-ju

Somehow the way a pale January sky reminds me of a watercolor sketch, a bright colored vintage silk jacket provides the antidote to the bloodless gray of a winter day. Like a spring bulb readying its burst through the soil, preparing her blaze of color as a herald of spring, I find wearing a vintage silk or satin Asian jacket to be just the right amount of jolt to liven things up. When I took these photos of a vintage Korean hanbok jacket (cropped and flattering to almost every waistline!) it reminded me of an orange chrysanthemum flower warming up the soul in the midst of a gray winter day. So it seems fitting to celebrate the poesy of bright silks with a poem.    

How are you adding color to your day?