A tree top twig Beneath the empty skyI look among The world’s connected stringsFrom a lofty view That’s twenty stories highIt’s here I see The flutters filled with wings This morning’s hush As Hudson’s sparkle comesAround it flows With autumn’s remnant leavesThe pigeon sky Above the …
Read MoreFallen Flowers
This wind will weave The cry of howling thievesAs calming rain Unfolds on golden grain A thousand sheaves A million fallen leavesAnd still these plains Will fill with bamboo canes Copyright (c) 2016 by Frank Watson. Loosely translated from Lu Shiheng’s “花落.”
Read MoreVenice, California
I sit and watch the waters flowing by Before the flower gardens seen by all: A place like this you’re free to loosen ties And break the empty shell of sudden squalls. Back home the path unwinds a thousand links Of men and women full …
Read MoreMorning Meditation
This morning the sky imparted its willOn spring, on summer, when all aroundIs rain and mist, and darkness still,Distilled for a moment in the river’s sound. These years I’ve buried my head in booksHave come and gone with the green dawn air;Last night I walked by …
Read MoreTrue Learning
Beauty refined in words, You say, “I know it all,” And so your mind is blurred— But if it were, “I am so small,” The lengths you could be spurred. You carry coins with scorn, Enriched like grass in the wind; But all your jewels …
Read MoreSeeking 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 …
Read MoreProphet
Everyday pronouncing a silken word, Unheeded, though it’s never much his fault— Standing among us, a prophet who pours A speck of honey in a sea of salt.
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