Only Now

We thought we would recall the single place

we had set out for and forget the rest

but it is the going we remember

it is the way that comes along with us

and with no one else now and the place

we set out for was not there even then

it had already been forgotten there

yet we remember the river we crossed

the stone bridge and old trees where it left us

and the small bluebird above us with its

hidden nest to which it was bringing back

what it had found where did we go from there

nothing we saw then ever had a name

and the river flowed on behind us

W.S. Merwin

from

Garden Time

 

 

At Tiye Temple

I play with stones and sit besides the stream, 

I search for flowers and walk around the temple.

Sometimes I listen to the songs of birds;

The sounds of spring are everywhere.

Bai Juyi

Springtime in the rockies

 

Making fire in the boat on a snowy day

Raven silver charcoal catches fire and give forth green fog,

so I pretend its a large stick of heavy aloes incense.

Stopping, then starting, it follows forth thickly; 

scattered into a fine mist it warms my robe and trousers.

But in a moment the fog clears, spitting out red rays,

and blazes like the rising sun of cloud surfaces.

This bright spring, mild sun warm my whole room;

my pale face reddens, I think I'm in the Land of Drunks!

Suddenly the fire grows cold, and the fog all disappears;

all I see is snowy ash piled up in my red stove.

Outside my window the snow is more than three feet deep,

but this snow inside my window is only one inch fragrant!

Yang Wanli

 

Every single thing 

changes and is changing

always in this world.

Yet with the same light

the moon goes on shining.

Saigyo

March's  full Worm Moon setting

 

Everything that is made beautiful and fair and lovely

is made for the eye of one who sees.

Rumi

II, 2383]

 

...But how can I ever find

the way to quiet my mind?

On moonlit nights, and

even nights blotted of the moon,

I lie disconsolate...

Shinkei

from Zen Poems

REMEMBERING FALL