Drawing A Snake In The Air

Joni Mitchell: A Case of You...1974

Once a centenarian teacher
who had the body
of an adolescent
told me he had
studied martial arts.
Me, too, I answered.
We were in Notre Dame,
and he said, Attack me.
I put myself in a combat position,
and he moved his left hand
in such an incredibly beautiful way
that while I looked at it,
fascinated, he gave me a big slap.
Beauty is the most dangerous weapon, he warned.
It took me a long time
to understand.
He used a secret Chinese practice,
which consists of drawing
a snake in the air with your hand
to distract the enemy.
And that is how beauty is: the most awful weapon.
--Alejandro Jodorowsky