A robe is
infinitely heavy,
the mountain weighs
less than a feather
you can move neither
but the you before you
carries both
like a breath.
weight
LIKE DUST
We are obligated to carry
memories, and as we
get older, the burden grows
ever heavier, we bend
under its weight, knowing
we dare not lose even one
for once cast off, the weight
is carried off like the smallest
feather on a storming wind.
Soon enough it is we who
Will become the burden
that others must carry
and we hope they will
willingly shoulder the load
lest we become the excised
dust of a forgotten stone
grown over with weeds.
THE WEIGHT
There is a heaviness to the sky
a weightiness belied
by the gray of the clouds,
even the departing sun
seems to whisper that it
will be replaced by rain in short order.
You feel the weight bearing down,
as the heat of the day dissipates,
and although the first drops
have not yet fallen, you know
that it is best to be within
when the rain begins
for it will do so without warning
and with little care
for your presence,
for this is how Spring
demands your attention.
QUANTUM GRAVITATION: ADOPTION
Quantum gravitation,
I strongly suggest,
is something on which
you cannot really count.
I know all things
are supposed
to be relative
but as an only
and adopted child
I have none,
for me relativity
is something special
and generally
the lack weighs heavily.
KANNON’S STATUE 鐵笛倒吹 語十八
If you meet the Bodhisattva,
you don’t ask someone
to carve the image from your mind.
To the carver, she weighs but an ounce
and can be carried
on his fingertip
but try to lift her
and you will not be able
to move her from her place.
All Buddhas
are one Buddha
but his Buddha
will never be
your Buddha.
A reflection on case 58 of the Iron Flute (Tetteki Tosui)
QUANTUM
Quantum gravitation,
I strongly suggest,
is something on which
you cannot really count.
I know all things
are supposed
to be relative
but as an only
and adopted child
I have none,
for me relativity
is something special
and generally
the lack weighs heavily.
