Till  now
I thought that only 
others die -
that such happiness
should fall to me!

Ryou
Japanese Death Poems 

 

Everyone is so afraid of death,  
but the real sufis just laugh:
nothing tyrannizes their hearts.
What strikes the oyster shell doesn't damage the pearl.

Rumi 

 

 

 

the moon a sign

this way, sir, to enter

a traveler's inn

 

Matsuo Basho 

Full Sturgeon Moon setting this morning

 

 

 

 

  As for me, I delight in the everyday Way,

Among mist-wrapped vines and rocky caves. 

Here in the wilderness I am completely free, 

With my friends, the white clouds, idling forever.

There are roads, but they do not reach the world;

Since I am mindless, who can rouse my thoughts?

On a bed of stone I sit, alone in the night, 

While the round moon climbs up Cold Mountain.

 

Hanshan

from

Zen Poems 

 

 

 

 

 

..Stillness: One of the doors

into the temple. 

 

Mary Oliver 

 

At dawn I come to the convent old,

While the rising sun tips its tall trees with gold-

Chang Jian

Rising sun filtered through smoke from the earth on fire

 

I smile like a flower not only with my lips

but with my whole being...

Rumi