Mar.26.2009
11:16 am
by joseph
Cold Mountain
I have always loved the poems of Han Shan. One of my favorite is number 26 -
- Since I came to Cold Mountain
- how many thousand years have passed?
- Accepting my fate I fled to the woods,
- to dwell and gaze in freedom.
- No one visits the cliffs
- forever hidden by clouds.
- Soft grass serves as a mattress,
- my quilt is the dark blue sky.
- A boulder makes a fine pillow;
- Heaven and Earth can crumble and change.
Over the past few weeks I have spent a lot of time in the mountains alone. Sleeping beneath a new spring moon, with only the high alpine forest as a companion, I linger. I could get stuck here, but the laughter of children remind me that my place is in the world.
I struggle to find a new way of living that honors the Cold Mountain that is me.
Filed in Intention, Poetry, Practice, Vocation |
A struggle many share. Beautiful poem.