Thursday, July 10, 2008

Nature cast in green, white and blue


Secret lagoon
Originally uploaded by jhhymas
Continuing with part 4 of

POETRY LESSONS by Gu Cheng

4.
Because of my deep needs, I often travel the far edges of society.

There in front of me are plants, clouds and the sea—nature cast in green, white and blue. The purity of these colors wipes away the dust of the everyday world, letting my mind recover its senses.

Is this something I am learning for the first time? No, it seems to be a recollection of an earlier time, as if before I was born I was one of them. I once was curved like the tusk
of a mammoth, once as innocent as a leaf, once as minute and happy as floating plankton, that free . . . .

I want to thank nature for letting me discover myself, discover the story of all things of the world, living and not. I want to thank it for giving me an endless supply of poems and songs.

This is why in the midst of the battle with reality, in the midst of the howl of the grinding machines, I can still say in a sweet quiet voice:

I’m yours.
----- Gu Cheng

I'll give you the last part tomorrow. Then I'll write about Gu Cheng a little and about this poem. Good nIght!

1 comment:

  1. I had been told to come see your blog -- very glad I did! I really like how you did this, the pictures and the poetry.
    I have a poetry blog at Past Tense and a photo blog at Present Tense.

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