Crunch of mulberry leaves
Lei Zu sips hot tea
Cocoon falls
Garden covered in silk
She spins the reel
Fine filaments threaded in loom
Shimmering prism of colors
Yellow Emperor surpassed!
*Inspired by a famous dress designer of Oakland, California. This poem briefly recounts the story of Lei Zu, a legendary Chinese empress and wife of the Yellow Emperor. While the Yellow Emperor was the purported founder of the central state in China, Lei Zu became a folk goddess for her alleged discovery that silkworms make silk and her attributed inventions of the silk reel and loom. She is affectionately called, 蠶奶奶 (Tsán năinai – Silkworm Grandma).
© 2021, Kenneth Koziol. All rights reserved.
