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Bloodstone Mermaid

by Sandcastle

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1.
Time to fall asleep, Time to fall asleep, Time to shut your eyes, Time to go inside. * Time to have a dream, Of angels on the shore, Laughter in the leaves, A maiden with a sword. * The flower in your eye, An alchemical blue, The petals close at midnight, And in the morning bloom. * Goddess of the Night, Whose voice is like the rain, Upon our faces bright, Her kisses leave a stain.
2.
Oh, I can see the sea, Peeking out of thee, The flower and the bee, You and me, We watch the summer die, The autumn is so still, It's such a lovely night, To kill. * As I bleed to death, I watch you braid your hair, Upon a sunny stone, Do you even care? no.
3.
Do you wanna wear your monkey suit, all for me? I don't wanna wear my monkey suit, when I stand before you. Do you wanna wear your whitest dress, when you go and meet the goddess? I don't wanna wear my whitest dress when I go to meet the goddess No monkey suit, nor whitest dress, I go to you sans ornament, You will take me as I am, Or cast me from your garden-- These holy roses I construct, They crumble at the lightest touch, So I place upon your altar only me. Have you heard the mermaid cry in the middle of the night? Yes, I've heard the mermaid crying beside me every night. Do you wanna pay to play, play with me? I don't wanna pay to play, wanna play with you for free. Well, in mermaids' tears I pay to play, I tire of this masquerade, Either you will take me as I am, Or exile me to an island, Where I'll compose my best poetry-- My Odes to Melancholy, Where I place upon your altar only me. Where I place upon your altar only me, only me.
4.
Every shining river of life runs into the Ocean of Death Every tiny rivulet flows into the Ocean of Death Not a tear forgotten, no drop unaccounted for, It's fine to try, but by and by, All drown in the Ocean of Death. = I had that dream again last night; I dreamt of the Flower of Life I was a dying butterfly, I drank of the Flower of Life, And when I awoke, There was nectar on my nose, So in my room I sing of a tomb, That blooms with the Flower of Life.
5.
Can you feel the Seasons? Can you feel the Seadaughters? Can you hear the mermaids laughing on the dark lake? Their teeth shine like the sharpened jade hairpins, In their braided pigtails tied with seaweed, In which twisted fine beads of pearls and aquamarines, Shimmer as they sway. Though I know they laugh at me, it's really OK with me, Though they wish to dine on me, Than to deny them I would rather die. Can you feel the Seasons? Can you feel the Seadaughters? Can you understand me, and my melancholy? Gazing out my window, plum blossoms in the snow. Do you know the nursing home right outside of Willow Grove, If you stay on Old York Road? That is where I wanna go, There I'll have a balcony, from there I'll watch my family, And if they never visit me, my nurse still takes care of me, She must think I'm disgusting--it's humiliating, But her perfume makes the room bloom, Like roses round the entrance of a tomb. Now do you understand me, know what it is I'm after? Cherry blossoms weeping, a dead mermaiden's laughter. Can you feel the Seasons? Can you feel the Seadaughters?

about

book iii

"The value of the...blood stone is decided by the scattering of blood color, the brilliance of the blood splash, and the purity of the material."
-Kuang-Nan Huang's preface in The Chen Ching's Collection of Chicken-Blood Stone Seals & Scupture (陳京先生珍藏昌化雞血石文物)

image: dragon detail from 'Budda in bathing' found in aforecited work.









NOTE: It should be said that the blood stone carving featured in this release's art is not the jasper/chalcedony Bloodstone, aka Heliotrope. Rather, this is Changhua Chicken-blood stone, a beloved and highly valued Chinese stone, historically used for seal carving.

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released March 8, 2018

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Sandcastle Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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