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INVASION
The light has fadedand the wetland lies underits mantle of faint starlight. The birds are there, wecan hear them, but our eyesdo not allow us to see them,despite our desire to havemore time with them. They can see us, in our well lit homes, staring out,but they do not want particularly to see us. To us they…
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IN CHORUS
Deep in a small forest,a murmuring brook reflectsthe shards of sun slidingthrough the crown of pines,its whispered wisdominfinitely more clearthan the babbling of menholding the reins firmlyin distant cities of power. The birds know this well,sing of it in chorus, nature’smusic, jazz scatting thatthe graying clouds absorb,an always willing audience,and the wind rushing bycries through…
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SHE
She surely should have known better. Selling sea shells by the sea shore is a short sighted career path. Anyone can pick up the shells on the seashore, selling shells is simply silly, and she should see that. But each day she sets up her stand, sets out the shells, and sits waiting to see…
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JOSHU’S DOG
Joshu’s dogand Schrodinger’s cat-are they oneand the same?Leave the lidon the boxof the mind.What isthe half lifeof a thought? A reflection on Cse 114 of teh Shobogenzo (Dogne’s True Dharma Eye)
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A STONES TOSS
If you toss a stoneinto a placid pondthe ripples will washaway from the landing spotas so many small waves,and unseen, the areaof the pond’s surfacewill grow imperceptibly. If you toss a stoneinto an vast ocean,the ripples will washaway from the landing spotsmall unnoticed wavesand unseen, the areaof the ocean’s surfacewill grow imperceptibly. Ask yourself now,whether…
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TAKING
You can take my sight,but my mind will still see what it must,and my fingers will become eyes.You can take my hearing,I will imagine what I must,and my eyes will become ears.You can take my tongue,but my body will shout what I must,and my hands will speak volumes.The only thing you cannot takeis my words,…
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A LESSON TO TEACH
This is what I would tell my sons:“You came from an ancient people,a heritage of poetsand tailors, or thievesand blasphemers,of callous menand slaughtered children.I would give you these books,written by God, some have said,although I am doubtfulbut driven by Erato, without doubt.” This is what I would tell my sons:“I didn’t go to war —there were so many…
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CHANGES
The finches are strugglingthis morning, searching the lawnfor the odd clover seed that’s yet to be reduced to dust by a summerwhere the rain has paintedour world with a palette of parchment, ochre, leaving uswandering an increasingly sepia world. We know that the rains will come again, that nature’s green will return, however briefly, beforewinter encases us all in…
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THE ROOM
It was a strange room,that much I recall, with heavyvelvet curtains coveringwhat should have been a window, and might once have been, but no longer. The only light was a bare bulbin the ceiling, casting a soft amber wash across the time worn oak floor,and once white walls. There was a chair, nondescriptand now long forgottenand a small…
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NANGAKU’s MIRROR CAST AS BUDDHA IMAGE
A wealthy man mayspend many lifetimeslooking in endless shopsfor a mirror castas a Buddha image.The poor man peers into a still pondand sees the entire universe. A reflection on Case 116 of the Shobogenzo (Dogen’s True Dharma Eye)
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an old writer and his words 