Farewell to a Lofty Monk
Farewell to a Lofty Monk
Liu Changqing (709-785)
A lofty cloud has met a common crane,
But how to live together in this land?
Don’t stay out here, though filled with fertile hills,
So many know this place, like grains of sand.
Chinese 送上人 劉長卿 孤雲將野鶴 豈向人間住 莫買沃洲山 時人已知處 | Pronunciation |
Carry Me Home
rays melt
into the blue light
of another heaven
*
wind washed
water melts anew
on the blue horizon
*
birds
of another day
have joined
for morning prayers
*
looking east
the pages turn
to the wind
where all the blind
begin to see
*
jigsaw night
among the red and blue—
once more I'm
back together again
*
sometimes dead as sin—
reborn for another day
Red Dust
This cauldron carries the mist
Of a hundred singing spirits
Who wrap around
Entwined in a halo
Between
The heavens and the earth
The sun and the moon
As we breathe the dust
To inhabit a world
Of darkness and light
Clinging on
For ten thousand years
Dissolved in a drop
And an ocean that never ends
Frank Watson
Seeking Chang, the Daoist Priest
The entire journey was on foot to this place,
Of moss, more moss, and my footstep’s trace.
White clouds about the banks in a quiet state,
The growing grass has covered the fence’s gate.
Passing rain, the pine’s green color in course,
I follow the mountain, to the water’s source.
These river flowers, in a moment’s sensation,
Have brought us to meet in silent meditation.
Original Chinese Poem
Western Sky
In the desert she rides across the sun-burnt sands