In the House of Anima

She rolled slowly on her back and lay for a last few moments
in the dark warmth of her bed. The rain, spattering intermittently
against the window, made her cocoon feel all the more like a
soft glove. She hugged the sheet and the eiderdown,
an old flock one that her grandmother had made.
These were the times when her dreams came floating to the
surface, when her mind was wide open and the daily
routine had not yet heaved into motion. This morning, it was different.
No images had swum to the surface, and she was content
to lie there with open eyes resting on the faded rose pattern
of the eiderdown. For moments on end, she lay as in a waking trance,
aware only that she was happy. The rain beat down, and she drew her
long legs up to her stomach in a shudder of pleasure, smiling at the
petulant morning outside.

Today, she would light the fire downstairs. Today, she would not
step outside the door of her house, she would conduct no business,
she would receive no callers. Today was to be her day, and she would
spend it filling her house with herself; she would lay claim to her place.

Slipping at last from the cocoon of the covers, she sat on the bed
with her feet on the carpet; a blue and red Turkish one with thick, coarse pile,
woven by a dozen women outside a tent on the Anatolian plains: another
world beneath the press of her feet. As she leaned her weight on the floor
those women, their headbands dangling gold coins, silver bracelets all up
their arms, flew up to meet her, sisters somehow, their fierce sense of belonging
stretching across time. This morning, she knew she belonged; she belonged exactly
where she was, in her tiny stone cottage in the Cotswolds, in England.
She belonged there as unequivocally as those women had belonged to Anatolia.

From the book Soul and Sensuality by Roger Housden

Comments

[maddie]

Today was to be her day, and she would
spend it filling her house with herself; she would lay claim to her place.

I need this book I want this book and I want it
now.

[maddie]

gorgeous photo ~ and your package is ready!

Yay!

[caroline]

Oh, can't wait! :)

[Anne Marie]

What a beautiful text. I'll have to go to the library and see if I can find it in the shelfs there...Beautiful frosty rose photo as well. Thank you for sharing Caroline!