when pens rest and dry...

idyll

"i have a steel-tipped pen rest made of long black bundled bristle set in a light blue shimmering opalized matte glass jar. protection in an ideal mantel. i think of the society for the protection of children. something tender, useful, softly and tenderly preserved. i swaddle my ungrudging elastic kuhn pen like a little child in its cradle, certain that nothing bad will befall it. it dries and rests. and the little glass jar in which the bristle holder sits is an iridescent blue, the color of waves breaking against the sun. and the steel tipped pen and pen rest return my love, my tenderness, quietly letting it be."

peter altenberg, 1859 - 1919, from telegrams of the soul.