16th Century Young Widow

(Posted by someone on the widow board)

From the National Geographic which arrived yesterday:

Locks of Love...A mournful note and a pair of sandals from the 16th century have captivated South Korea. On June 1, 1586, a pregnant widow in the east wrote to her husband: "You always said you wanted to live with me until our hair turns gray. How could you pass away without me?" She left the letter in his tomb, along with shoes she'd made as a sign of love for her ailing spouse, woven from her hair and hemp bark. There they lay until the city of Andong began moving graves to make way for houses.

Her message was that love transcends time and place. "Come to me secretly," she urged. "Although I have much to say, I'll stop here." Korea has resurrected the dialogue with two novels and a TV documentary. A statue of the widow stands at the gravesite. Koreans and Japanese tourists have brought thousands of copies of the letter. "It is a timeless peice," says Park Chang-gun, a professor directing an opera about the couple, "still making people cry."

How perfect is that expression of her grief? It's something that transcends the ages I guess.