The palm at the end of the mind, beyond the last thought, rises in the bronze distance. A gold feathered bird sings in the palm, without human meaning, without human feeling, a foreign song. You know then that it is not the reason that makes us happy or unhappy.
The bird sings. Its feathers shine. The palm stands on the edge of space. The wind moves slowly in the branches. The bird's fire-fangled feathers dangle down.

Friday, April 2, 2021

For Wei Mu

We're both travelers dark-eyed with love

and both possessed of white-cloud mind.

 

Why set out for White Mountain, when here

spring grasses grow deeper day by day?

 

--Wang Wei (701-761 CE)

translated by David Hinton  

No comments:

Post a Comment