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caferati
A collaboration over too much coffee.
coffee and pen

29 October, 2004

Is Your Face A Mirror?

I want to first write a poem and then, request the erudite reader to go down scroll down and read a Japanese folk tale which says the same thing.

Refelections

Often I have turned up my eyes
after reading a paper that suffocates
my soul, to see sheer boredom all around

and ofen with galvanized movements,
I've looked up to see electric responses

and irritating bits of news
mushrooming all around as sheets of pique.

Voices carry,
and don't be surprized
if your hidden fears
get refected magnified and rebounce
to shake up the whole world.


House of 1000 Mirrors
Japanese folktale - Author Unknown

Long ago in a small, far away village, there was place known as the House of 1000 Mirrors. A small, happy little dog learned of this place and decided to visit. When he arrived, he bounced happily up the stairs to the doorway of the house. He looked through the doorway with his ears lifted high and his tail wagging as fast as it could. To his great surprise, he found himself staring at 1000 other happy little dogs with their tails wagging just as fast as his. He smiled a great smile, and was answered with 1000 great smiles just as warm and friendly. As he left the House, he thought to himself, "This is a wonderful place. I will come back and visit it often."

In this same village, another little dog, who was not quite as happy as the first one, decided to visit the house. He slowly climbed the stairs and hung his head low as he looked into the door. When he saw the 1000 unfriendly looking dogs staring back at him, he growled at them and was horrified to see 1000 little dogs growling back at him. As he left, he thought to himself, "That is a horrible place, and I will never go back there again."

Moral: All the faces in the world are mirrors. What kind of reflections do you see in the faces of the people you meet?

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6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well, Caferati actually reminds me of a house of 1000 mirrors :) Except I am the dog with the happy smiling face!

But as folklores almost always tend to do, this one too captures the essence of our interactions with others and how they are colored by our own filters, moods, perceptions.

29 October, 2004 19:16  
Blogger Alien said...

Somehow Max this reminds me of a poem by a guy called Dale Winbrow ( I hope I have the name right). Its called Man in The Mirror... talks of how the final measure of one's success is how successfully one can face the man in that mirror...

Slightly off what the tale had to say.... but just a thought that occured.. sorry if i digressed..

30 October, 2004 00:34  
Blogger dinesh said...

I wrote something similar (similar to the story) some time back, but i guess, i'm like the unhappy dog :)

30 October, 2004 14:33  
Blogger G Shrivastava said...

Goes without saying that the poem was excellent - I knew this tale, but didn't know it was a Japanese folktale! Something to be tucked away in the ever-expanding store-house of knowledge!

PS You asked the "erudite" reader to scroll down - sincere compliment or tongue-in-cheek attack? ;-)

01 November, 2004 12:31  
Blogger Paddy said...

When I see a reflection I see something that is definitely *not* me.Its kind of like "the other half" syndrome.But Yeah! When I mentally visualize myself integrating both sides of the mirror I feel whole.

Does that make sense?? May be not..

02 November, 2004 05:22  
Blogger Pincushion said...

A singular act of courage it is, to face one's reflection with squarely, stripped naked, and no hide-n-seek, isn't it ?? ''a paper that suffocates my soul'' precise yet beautiful...

07 December, 2004 15:51  

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