“Then I feel the storm and am vibrant like the sea”
Presaging - Rainer Maria Rilke, tr. Jessie Lamont | Rishi Elderberry Healer Tea
The Poem
Presaging - Rainer Maria Rilke, tr. Jessie Lamont
I am like a flag unfurled in space,
I scent the oncoming winds and must bend with them,
While the things beneath are not yet stirring,
While doors close gently and there is silence in the chimneys
And the windows do not yet tremble and the dust is still heavy—
Then I feel the storm and am vibrant like the sea
And expand and withdraw into myself
And thrust myself forth and am alone in the great storm.
The Beverage
Rishi Elderberry Healer Tea
A little break of over a year, but I’m back, baby!
As usual, I drank a lot of tea through the winter. A lot of that tea was at work because I am working at a café at the moment, but at home, I drank through a box of Rishi’s Elderberry Healer. I haven’t been sick since January, but that is more thanks to masks and winter solitude than tea. This tea sells itself like a herbalist might, talking about folk remedies and whatnot, but I am a simple tea drinker. My only questions are one: do I like it? and two: what is the caffeine situation? I do not fear caffeine, but my limits have become more apparent the last few months. That is, I need to chill out on my caffeine consumption in the evenings. The Elderberry Healer is both delicious and not caffeine-y. The tea is a little sweet, a little spicy, a little tart. Bracing enough to not feel like I am drinking Sleepytime something-or-another but not aggressive. Just a good little herbal brew that stands on its own two feet. Spring isn’t quite here up on the cold bluffs, so I am still drinking it.
How have you all been? Is it spring where you are? Any news?
As for me, I am just living in a quiet stretch of Wisconsin, trying to figure out what I am doing with myself and nurturing a long Duolingo streak without actually learning any languages.