Saturday, August 26, 2023

Life and Art. Art and Life.

One morning this week, as I walked along a shadowy but sun-dappled path through a grove of trees, I came upon a single golden pine needle hovering vertically in mid-air, at eye-level, above the path. The needle was suspended on a single gossamer thread.  Unmoving, it captured the angled morning sunlight of late August.

I walked on.  A few minutes later, I remembered this (which has appeared here in the past):

    On Something Observed

Torn remains of a cobweb,
     one strand dangling down --
a stray petal fluttering by
     has been tangled, caught in its skein,
all day to dance and turn,
     never once resting --
elsewhere in my garden,
     no breeze stirs.

Kokan Shiren (1278-1346) (translated by Burton Watson), in Burton Watson, Japanese Literature in Chinese, Volume II: Poetry and Prose in Chinese by Japanese Writers of the Later Period (Columbia University Press 1976), page 27.  Kokan Shiren was a Zen Buddhist monk.

So goes our brief stay in Paradise.

Josephine Haswell Miller (1890-1975), "Studio Window" (1934)
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4 comments:

  1. GretchenJoannaAugust 26, 2023 at 7:37 AM

    Ah, yes…. and the things that “happen” here on your blog are typically that sublime.

    Thank you.

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  2. hartAugust 26, 2023 at 10:13 AM

    Lovely image that one golden needle.

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  3. Stephen PentzSeptember 3, 2023 at 10:09 AM

    GretchenJoanna: That's very nice of you to say. Thank you so much. Of course, as I have said in the past, I am merely the messenger bearing the poems and paintings that appear here. Where would I be without, for instance, Kokan Shiren, Burton Watson, and Josephine Haswell Miller? And, most importantly, where would I be without the beautiful particulars of the World?

    Again, thank you very much for your kind words. It's always a pleasure to hear from you.

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  4. Stephen PentzSeptember 3, 2023 at 10:19 AM

    hart: Yes, I was quite surprised by coming across it -- suddenly, out of the blue. As I said in my reply to GretchenJoanna's comment: where would I be without the beautiful particulars of the World? I am usually sleepwalking through the World, but the World always has a way of making itself known, whether I am dozing or not!

    Thank you very much for your thought. And, as ever, thank you very much for visiting.

    ReplyDelete