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

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

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
 

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