{"id":10298,"date":"2015-04-28T14:11:09","date_gmt":"2015-04-28T18:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/?p=10298"},"modified":"2015-04-28T14:11:09","modified_gmt":"2015-04-28T18:11:09","slug":"the-dark-threads-reprised","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2015\/04\/the-dark-threads-reprised.html","title":{"rendered":"the dark threads, reprised"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"via<\/a>
via wikipedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I have a copy of this tapestry, one of my favourites. The idea that women made this — centuries ago — that they sat together for probably a decade (1495-1505), creating this thing of such intricate loveliness, among them? I’m awed.<\/p>\n

I’m also awed\u00a0at how little light there is in the tapestry: the unicorn, the meadow\u00a0\u00a0flowers, a lighter shade for the woods of the fence & tree trunk. Mostly? Dark threads.<\/p>\n

When I bought my copy, I was very young — mid-20s. I had to pay it for a year. And what I loved about it, of course, was the magical unicorn — glowing almost as if lit. Now, knowing far more about life and its dark places, I value how the dark threads allow the bright ones to gleam, to reach out to us.<\/p>\n

Of\u00a0course<\/em> it’s a metaphor. Christians & pagans both claim the unicorn, but I claim the balance between dark & light threads. What Eastern thinkers term the balance between light & darkness. Note that there are far more dark threads in my tapestry than there are bright ones; life’s often like that, isn’t it? But what we focus on — humans that we are — is the light.<\/p>\n

That’s as it should be, ever optimistic be. \ud83d\ude42 But it does help, when things are their normal imperfect selves, to remember the ratio. And that w\/out the dark framework and background, the unicorn would disappear…<\/p>\n

It’s still National Poetry Month. Here’s one of my very favourite poets, W.H. Auden, on the unicorn:<\/p>\n

New Year Letter<\/p>\n

~ W. H. Auden<\/p>\n

O unicorn among the cedars
\nTo whom no magic charm can lead us,
\nWhite childhood moving like a sigh
\nThrough the green woods unharmed in thy
\nSophisticated innocence
\nTo call thy true love to the dance…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have a copy of this tapestry, one of my favourites. The idea that women made this — centuries ago — that they sat together for probably a decade (1495-1505), creating this thing of such intricate loveliness, among them? I’m awed. I’m also awed\u00a0at how little light there is in the tapestry: the unicorn, the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":398,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[985,996],"tags":[173,11,1181,1187,262,318,997,998],"class_list":["post-10298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-poetry-month","category-unicorn","tag-auden","tag-beginners-heart","tag-britton-gildersleeve","tag-buddhism","tag-buddhist-blogs","tag-national-poetry-month","tag-unicorn","tag-unicorn-tapestries"],"yoast_head":"\nthe dark threads, reprised - Beginner's Heart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I have a copy of this tapestry, one of my favourites. 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