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Category Archives: Poetry
Beginnings Abide in Ends
Dusk… Stars shining already between shores of cloud. -J.R.R. Tolkien, LOTR
Solomon’s Envy
In the midst of the plain Sings the skylark, Free of all things. -Basho (Blyth)
Posted in Haiku
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Knowing
It cannot be attained by mind;It is not to be sought after through mindlessness.It cannot be created by speech;It cannot be penetrated by silence.The geese do not wish to leave their reflection behind;The water has no mind to retain their … Continue reading
Posted in Poetry, Spiritual
Tagged No Mind, Spirituality, The Way that is No Way, Zen
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Humility
If you wish to know the road up the mountain, You must ask the man who goes back and forth on it. -Zenrinkushu (R.H. Blyth)
Posted in Poetry, Spiritual
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Stop and See
If you do not get it from yourself, where will you go for it? -Zenrinkushu (tr. R. H. Blyth)
Consciousness
To have the sun and the moon in one’s sleeve; To hold the universe in the palm of one’s hand. -Zenrinkushu (tr. R. H. Blyth) To see a World in a Grain of Sand And a Heaven in a Wild … Continue reading
Posted in Literature, Poetry, Spiritual
Tagged behold, empty mind, exhileration, expansive, open, receptive, wonder
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Flexibility, Strength
Only seeing the sharpness of the awl; Not knowing the squareness of the stone-chisel. -Zenrinkushu (tr. R. H. Blyth)
Emptying to Fullness
The plum tree, dwindling, contains less of the spring; But the garden is wider, and holds more of the moon. -Zenrinkushu (tr. R. H. Blyth)
Wonder
The wind drops, but the flowers still fall; A bird sings, and the mountain holds yet more mystery. -Zenrinkushu (tr. R. H. Blyth)
Viewpoint
Life is like a sword that wounds, but cannot wound itself;Like an eye that sees, but cannot see itself. -Zenrinkushu (tr. R. H. Blyth)
Devotion
When spring comes, many visitors enjoy themselves at the temple;When the flowers fall, only the monk who shuts the gate is left. -anon (tr. R. H. Blyth)
Letting Go
The skies seen in the dawn of spring, Seen with the moon of autumn, —Were they real? Were they a dream? Namuamida butsu! -Sonojo (Deathverse), (tr. R. H. Blyth)
Soft
Yield to the willowAll the loathing, all the desire Of your heart. -Basho (tr. R. Blyth)
Posted in Haiku, Literature
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A Flower
A flower of the camellia-tree fell, spilling its water. -Basho (tr. R. Blyth) I’m going to be putting up some favorite poems from haiku poets and zen poets over the next week or so. These are such wonderful poems, both beautiful … Continue reading
Posted in Haiku, Literature
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From this Ruin
Maybe what I didn’t know all along this path was that all my heart’s feeling was nourishment, like rain water filling the roses. I thought it was a fire in a tinder dry wood, a hail of flaming comets at … Continue reading
Yeats Via Kilmer
“I think it was Yeats who said… You see a tree, and you observe a truth about the tree. And you’re hit with it. The magic of the tree. It’s a spiritual thing. Beyond the physical life form of the … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophical, Poetry
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Water with Friends
With Tu Fu and Li Bai I drinkthis wayside rock-spring luminous watermissing not at allthe wine we sharedat the Temple Mount Tavernjust the night before. The belly-deep laughter it bringsrises even more easilyand cleans away the heavy airthat clings from … Continue reading
Posted in Poetry
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Late at Night
The swirl of wind relenting; the turn of water descending;the slow winding down of the cat into sleep.
Posted in Poetry
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Caravan
It seems to me from years of gracethat the best poems come out of the night.They softly, swiftly descendon wafting leaves with starlight glistening.They never guess nor ever look back.They mince no words and pour imagesthat tingle in the heart … Continue reading
Posted in Poetry
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Flowerwatch Journal 