COMPASSION

Affirmation of life is the spiritual act by which man ceases to live thoughtlessly and begins to devote himself to his life
with reverence in order to give it true value.
— Albert Schweitzer

6/30/2010

Adrift On What-If River

"In a crystalline radiance of day's last light,
I frolic along the river shallows, paddle light,
then enchanted by water creatures, drift
all effortless ease across their clear depths.

A white-haired man trailing a fish hook,
a girl rinsing gauze clean, makeup fresh:
we gaze and gaze, a recognition swelling,
a pulsing blush, then can't find the words."

- Meng Hao-jan (689-740) , translated from the Chinese by David Hinton, Brooklyn, Archipelago Books: 2004.

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