Ikkyu wrote something about how there was a skeleton
propping up the body of the woman you are fondling.
I found that a little too real, unsettling thought,
not that I’m fondling any women in my dwindling days
but I find it close to macabre to think of a woman
as just flesh propped up by bones.
Though I have to concur, Ikkyu certainly made a point
about the impermanence of humans, love and life.

Bob Boyd