Put a Tie on Mulder ("What did you get in the gift shop, Mulder?...Oh! Barnum was right!") (Of course, Mulder's taste in ties is... legendary, but: Paul Fredrick Menstyle and Bachrach have ties & more for that Special Agent.) History of Neckwear How to Tie one on... A well-tied tie is the first serious step in life. -- Oscar Wilde     Groucho   Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to David Duchovny                                       Madwoman's Home Journal Index

Meditation 1: On Ties, Handsome Well-Dressed Men, Special Agent Fox Mulder, The X-Files... Morning Song of Senlin It is morning, Senlin says, and in the morning When the light drips through the shutters like the dew, I arise, I face the sunrise, And do the things my fathers learned to do. Stars in the purple dusk above the rooftops Pale in a saffron mist and seem to die, And I myself on a swiftly tilting planet Stand before a glass and tie my tie. Vine leaves tap at my window, Dew-drops sing to the garden stones, The robin chirps in the chinaberry tree Repeating three clear tones. It is morning. I stand by the mirror And tie my tie once more. While waves far off in a pale rose twilight Crash on a white sand shore. I stand by a mirror and comb my hair: How small and white my face!-- The green earth tilts through a sphere of air And bathes in a flame of space. There are houses hanging above the stars And stars hung under a sea... And a sun for off in a shell of silence Dapples my walls for me... It is morning, Senlin says, and in the morning Should I not pause in the light to remember god? Upright and firm I stand on a star unstable, He is immense and lonely as a cloud. I will dedicate this moment before my mirror To him alone, for him I will comb my hair. Accept these humble offerings, cloud of silence! I will think of you as I descend the stair. Vine leaves tap my window, The snail-track shines on the stones, Dew-drops flash from the chinaberry tree Repeating two clear tones. It is morning, I awake from a bed of silence, Shining I rise from the starless waters of sleep. The walls are about me still as in the evening, I am the same, and the same name still I keep. The earth revolves with me, yet makes no motion, The stars pale silently in a coral sky. In a whistling void I stand before my mirror, Unconcerned, and tie my tie. There are horses neighing on far-off hills Tossing their long white manes, And mountains flash in the rose-white dusk, Their shoulders black with rains... It is morning. I stand by the mirror And surprise my soul once more; The blue air rushes above my ceiling, There are suns beneath my floor... ...It is morning, Senlin says, I ascend from darkness And depart on the winds of space for I know not where, My watch is wound, a key is in my pocket, And the sky is darkened as I descend the stair. There are shadows across the windows, clouds in heaven, And a god among the stars; and I will go Thinking of him as I might think of daybreak And humming a tune I know... Vine leaves tap at the window Dew-drops sing to the garden stones, The robin chirps in the chinaberry tree Repeating three clear tones. -- Conrad Aiken Senlin: A Biography 15 February 2000 In the Mood   Dream of You Madwoman's Journal Index Meditation 3: Love Meditation 2: Storytelling