Pebble on the Tongue: Always a Backstory

If traipsing teaches nothing more, it beckons the traveler to wait for a backstory (apologies, Derrida!) in every encounter or first impression.

Consider a haiku by the Japanese master, ‘Issa’, d. 1828 after a life of misfortunes.

So hospitably
waving at the entrance gate
the willow tree.

– trans. H. Henderson

Beloved of poets, storytellers, artists and balladeers, the willow appears often in pen and ink landscapes of East Asia. It suggests to some sorrow, to others mercy, and to still others, composure in the face of adversity. Its supple branches often serve ceremonially, e.g. to fashion shelters during the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles. The ancients prized it for its medicinal properties. photo credit: <enot-poloskun>

It paints a brush-and-ink picture of what the weary traveler seeks: welcome at day’s end. But there lives a hidden story between these lines. Buffeted by griefs, Issa had been sent away by a severe stepmother though, as heir to the family estate, he had rights to the home he was now denied. Here Issa stands as outsider at his own gate loving the grace of the willow, dismissing all bitterness at his cruel fate.

The mastery is not just of deft and lyric lines. A backstory sings of self-mastery.

Pebble on the Tongue: Always a Backstory

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