Cobalt Guild

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The leaves cling and grow paler, swing and grow paler
over the swirling waters of the river as if loath to let go, they are so cool, so drunk with the swirl of the wind and of the river

- from The Willow-Tree by William Carlos Williams

Beyond all boundaries, at memory’s undoing—
As when the dreamer sees and after the dream
The passion endures, imprinted on his being

from Paradiso: Canto 33 by Dante Alighieri, translated by Robert Pinsky

in winter

I was ill, lying on my bed of old papers,
when you came with white rabbits in your arms;
and the doves scattered upwards, flying to mothers,
and the snails sighed under their baggage of stone . . .

Now your tongue grows like celery between us:
Because of our love-cries, cabbage darkens in its nest;
the cauliflower thinks of her pale, plump children
and turns greenish-white in a light like the ocean’s.

I was sick, fainting in the smell of teabags,
when you came with tomatoes, a good poetry.
I am being wooed. I am being conquered
by a cliff of limestone that leaves chalk on my breasts.

Rita Dove, “The Secret Garden”

COBALT GUILD blue and white porcelains, famille style porcelains, all sourced by Bo Jia of Middle Kingdom exclusively for Cobalt Guild