Down Zhongnan Mountain

 

Down the blue mountain in the evening,
Moonlight was my homeward escort.
Looking back, I saw my path
Lie in levels of deep shadow....
I was passing the farm-house of a friend,
When his children called from a gate of thorn
And led me twining through jade bamboos
Where green vines caught and held my clothes.
And I was glad of a chance to rest
And glad of a chance to drink with my friend....
We sang to the tune of the wind in the pines;
And we finished our songs as the stars went down,
When, I being drunk and my friend more than happy,
Between us we forgot the world.

Li Bai, 701-762 C.E.

Despisers of the body

"I," you say, and are proud of the word. But greater is that in which you do not wish to have faith - your body and its great reason: that does not say "I", but does "I."

Valentine

Love for sale
On the shelves
Young men line up
For prepackaged roses
For identical cards
Absurd pink baubles
"How nice"
Smile producers of junk
"It's the thought that counts"

Study of the trunk of an Elm tree

Constable, c. 1821

Post facto

The sheer weariness of life
A dull needle stuck in a shallow track
All our words arrive too late
And are never enough
Go to the ant to learn industry
And to learn repetition
There you see the universe
In a single insect
You have it

Blind man in a new place
Will you hear the children
Place a block in your path
Or will you not trip and fall
I have waited quietly
To see your fate