specimen pressed
no. 04 · h-coll.
the leaf appears dark green by day and entirely black by candle. cut at the stem, it bleeds a sap so dark it stains the bowl. the sap thickens overnight into a usable ink, sufficient for marginalia if not for the page.
copyists kept a patch by the door of the workroom. the ink reads slate-grey when dry. a pen dipped and shaken once will write three lines, and then asks you to reflect. see also: word, library, the rare blooming under midnight when the dew is heavy.
field note — i used a drop to underline a sentence i later forgot the meaning of. the line, still, is very black.