Mi Se- the mysterious colour by Emma McKervey #16

Mi Se – the mysterious colour.

The crackle in the glaze is no accident and would have taken days to cool,

days to complete the fine contour lines through the dour iron-green,

gently clinking in the quiet of the potter’s store as another living crack migrated

across the surface, the feathers of the phoenix merging with twinning leaves.

When ready these pieces would be passed on in secret, allowing the olive grey

celadon to become legendary in the dark of the Emperor’s hoard, the final pieces

remaining underground for 1000 years,  held by Monks who locked the Buddha’s

finger bone in with them after it had rolled  from the cleansing fire to rest at their feet.

Now in the museum of that cache are displayed many fakes in the cases alongside the true

of both bone and bowl,  but the true ones can be told by their nature, even if at first sight

the porcelain seems plump and unstately and the bone small and mean.  

Always the truth is told by nature when time is taken to look.