Lily

Lily is a ninety-one year old Asian American calligrapher. She will retire in April and will be donating her life's work to a local university. I met her two weeks ago at an art exhibit where she was displaying several of her water color scrolls. Our spirits touched and Lily invited me to visit a class she has been teaching for twenty-five years. Lily asked me what my favorite flower was. Chrysanthemum, I replied and she painted me three gold chrysanthemums and a dragonfly. I watched intently as Lily painted the flowers and her brush strokes were so perfect it was as though they were choreographed. She told me that she began to learn calligraphy and brush painting when she was eleven years old and living in occupied territory. "There was so much pain after the war," she said. "One needed to find a way to escape; to endure it and I found solace in water color painting. - This is what people do- art, painting, music, dance. This is called culture." I understood Lily, for this is what my writing and music does for me; makes difficult days possible and inspires me to transcend barriers and limitations of my life.