A small arc of sun
stands above the trees
Like the tufts of hair
that give away the
hiding boy who can’t
judge hairdo height.
The next time I turn around,
I see Sun -- fully out and
stalking up behind me,
looming larger.
white silk-cotton tree,
sinuously sprawling —-
chaining earth to sky.
The first thing I would do would be to say, “How did I win the lottery without buying a ticket? That is some fine luck.” Then I would get paranoid that it was like one of those Korben Dallas, “Fifth Element,” set-ups.
While I do admire how Voltaire became a wealthy man exploiting the mathematical ineptitude of his nation’s “lottery authority,” I’m pretty sure the kinks have all been worked out such that the house always wins.
When I was one-and-twenty
I heard a wise man say,
"Give crowns and pounds and guineas
but not your heart away;
Give pearls away and rubies
but keep your fancy free."
But I was one-and-twenty,
No use to talk to me.
When I was one-and-twenty
I heard him say again,
"The heart out of the bosom
Was never given in vain;
'Tis paid with sighs a plenty
And sold for endless rue."
And I am two-and-twenty,
And oh, 'tis true, 'tis true.
the bee wallows
in pollen like a drunk
sprawls on a bar’s floor.
the sunflower
that bows its head in the sun
feels pensive.
What floats out in the water?
My troubled mind imagines
dire possibilities --
Instead of floating like
whatever it is that's out there.
Because whatever it is,
it is beyond angst.
It knows only the float --
the quiet act of floating.
And in its floating,
it cannot be lighter,
cannot be more at ease.
It is the thing that floats.
I only wish I could be
that which floats.
Built as a dōjō, a martial arts training hall, during the period of Japanese rule, this historic building is now part of the Zhongyi Elementary School complex. It’s right beside the Confucian Temple.
