the crane wife

 this is still one of my favorite songs (even though this is parts 1,2 & 3)

...has been since i first heard it in 2006.

i cannot recall where i first heard the story of the crane wife.

it's a japanese folk tale & i know i heard it when i was fairly young.

i remember the vivid imagery that the story brought to my head.

i'll pull a quote from wikipedia...

The Crane Wife is an old Japanese folktale. While there are many variations of the tale, a common version is that a poor man finds an injured crane on his doorstep (or outside with an arrow in it), takes it in and nurses it back to health. After he releases the crane, a woman appears at his doorstep with whom he falls in love and marries. Because they need money, his wife offers to weave wondrous clothes out of silk that they can sell at the market, but only if he agrees never to watch her making them. They begin to sell them and live a comfortable life, but he soon makes her weave them more and more. Oblivious to his wife's declining health, his greed increases. He eventually peeks in to see what she is doing to make the silk she weaves so desirable. He is shocked to discover that at the loom is a crane plucking feathers from her own body and weaving them into the loom. The crane, seeing him, flies away and never returns.

today, the decemberists and colin meloy's voice 

have taken me to back to that vivid imagery.

i'd love for someone wonderful to make this story into a tattoo for me.

although i have a few incredibly talented artist/tattoo friends...

i think what i picture in my head would be difficult to grasp

and unfortunately could probably never be captured on my skin anyway.

♥