Classic poem of the day
Raphael slipped past those he healed,
Beside the troubled pool,
And none knew where he vanished,
Save only one, called fool.
None he had cured could see him,
Only the witless one,
Who went at heel of Raphael
Into the setting sun.
Barefoot, dumb, ragged,
With such wit as he hath,
He has kept close to Raphael
On the sun-ray for a path.
The healed went forth, important,
Expounding Raphael's skill,
...
Member poem of the day
In their haiku the Oriental masters of the form frequently used dew as a metaphor for the transience of life. Some of these poets have used dew metaphorically in a jisei (a type of death poem sometimes called a “zen death poem”) … but then I discovered to my surprise that I had used dew in similar ways quite frequently in my own poetry …
This world?
Moonlit dew
flicked from a crane’s bill.
— Eihei Dogen Kigen, loose translati...
