the boy with the blue hands

[asakiyume]

I came across a boy leaning over the edge of a snowy chasm, his chin in the snow and a magnifying glass in his hand, looking at the leaves and feather flowers of hoarfrost and snow...



"They're a little like ferns or the notched needles of certain cypresses," he said, his speech clipped, as if he were very cold--and he ought to have been very cold, lying there in the snow. "They're like them, but much more beautiful. I could look at them forever."

I got down on my knees to look, but he pushed me away. "You're too warm!" he said. "You'll melt them with your breath, if you don't knock them with those clumsy mittens."

I saw his hands were blue and his fingertips practically black, and his thin, sharp nose and the lobes of his ears, too.

"It's not good for you to be so cold," I said.

"It's perfect for me to be so cold," he said. "Perfect. . ." And he moved his magnifying glass over to another fringe of hoarfrost, once again lost in contemplation.

Comments

[i-am-sarah.livejournal.com]

I love the pictures! Good job on them!

Also, on my computer it shows that you posted your entry at: 1/11/10 01:11 pm - That's a lot of 1's! :)

111!!111

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I love number magic--it's the only thing that makes balancing the checkbook bearable :D

[marshallpayne1.livejournal.com]

Ooh, those are pretty! :-)

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[sovay]

"It's perfect for me to be so cold," he said. "Perfect. . ."

Prrrrt.

[ericmarin.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Perfection has its price.

[cucumberseed.livejournal.com]

Thirded

Re: beautiful.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, I agree about the unlucky ones. You hope one day something will open their eyes.

Avatar blues, wow.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

This was amazing.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Snow and frost are mesmerizing.

[faerie-writer.livejournal.com]

Oh, *so* pretty! :D

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Amazing how fernlike they are, isn't it?

[lizziebelle.livejournal.com]

Wow! So beautiful!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Very glad you enjoyed! Amazing what the camera can capture.

[redcoast.livejournal.com]

Oh, hey, I forgot to tell you but we actually had hoarfrost this year! In fact, there's been snow on the ground for a week!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Have you found some hills to go sledding on?

[salyey-marya.livejournal.com]

there's another parable -

there's meaning in what you write. in search of the perfect we become cold...

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I hadn't consciously thought of that when I wrote this, but it's something I do believe--so maybe it crept in without my realizing.

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

The hoarfrost is beautiful.

The boy's enthrallment in the glamour of hoarfrost is both wonderful and frightening. Is his name Kai, perhaps?

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Yes :-)

[jongibbs.livejournal.com]

Cool pictures (no pun intended) :)

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

:D

My younger daughter likes to say "no pun intended" in instances where there isn't possibly a pun and watch people scratch their heads, trying to figure it out (e.g., "It was a long walk this morning--no pun intended--but I feel better for it.")

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

They are beautiful but sheesh I hope he's okay.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Set your mind at ease--the part about the boy is an imagining that came to me later, looking at the photos. Really when I got on my knees to take those pictures, there was only Molly with me.

Forgive me for worrying you?

[pjthompson]

Oh how beautiful.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Snow and frost are amazing.

[skogkatt.livejournal.com]

I love this whole entry. The pictures and the text. Thank you.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you're in this world to share these things with. Thank You.

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

So beautiful. I love "The Snow Queen."

Nine

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Me too, definitely definitely.

[jmeadows.livejournal.com]

Very cold. He's like a boy out of Greek myth, or a fairy.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I was thinking about Kay from The Snow Queen, and about how people who are single-mindedly devoted to something don't notice the cost.... but also about the sharp edges of (some) beautiful things.

Love this icon of yours!

[littlemoremasks.livejournal.com]

That was really rather disturbing. I still think your call is not YA fiction, but modern folklore/horror. That boy... I'm going to have a hard time not seeing him at the edge of my windows.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Whatever the publishing world wants to call what I write, I'm willing to go with!

[behindpyramids.livejournal.com]

The weird and perfect beauty of your lines reminded me of Brian Andreas, and your photographs filled me with such peace that my mind has informed me...it's okay to let everything go and fall asleep after a long day thinking of nothing but hoarfrost and snow.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

^_^ That's a good message your mind had for you--sweet dreams (just be sure you're lying down to sleep in a warm bed and not a snowbank.) <--always forgetting the closing parenthesis!

[core-opsis.livejournal.com]

You have a billion comments here (which I haven't read), but I just want to say how lovely this post is--the exquisite (ack--I don't know how to spell that word--this is a third attempt and still doesn't look right) photos and evocative snippet of a story. That blue boy sat with me all yesterday....

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Thanks for letting me know--it means a lot to me. You're my longtime friend from forever... I like knowing when you like something.

I was really glad you gave me the link to that interview of you--it was great to read, and great to link back to your art blog. Beautiful stuff there.

[deponti.livejournal.com]

That's beautiful...the words and images both!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Very glad you enjoyed, D!