“Because I Could Not Stop for Death” (479) by Emily Dickinson [w/ Audio]

Because I could not stop for Death —
He kindly stopped for me —
The Carriage held but just Ourselves —
And Immortality.

We slowly drove — He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labour and my leisure too,
For His Civility —

We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess — in the Ring —
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain -
We passed the Setting Sun -

Or rather - He passed us -
The Dews drew quivering and chill -
For only Gossamer, my Gown -
My Tippet - only Tulle -

We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground -
The Roof was scarcely visible -
The Cornice - in the Ground-

Since then - ‘tis Centuries - and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses’ Heads
Were toward Eternity -

Green Fields [Haiku]

the rice fields 
are at their most verdant;
scent of rain.

Cold River Sky [Haiku]

clouds - low & textured -
look yet angrier when seen
in the cold river.

DAILY PHOTO: A Pair of Planters

Taken near Zouying Lotus Pond, Kaohsiung

Cormorant Patience [Kyōka]

the cormorant,
glistening & dripping,
must air dry
before it’s a bird again;
humans cramp in the pool.

“There Is a Bird in the Tree” by Kabir [w/ Audio]

On this tree is a bird:
It dances in the joy of life.
No one knows where it is:
And who knows what the burden
Of its music may be?
Where the branches throw a deep shade,
There does it have its nest:
And it comes in the evening
And flies away in the morning,
And says not a word
Of that which it means.
None tell me of this bird
That sings within me.
It is neither coloured nor colourless:
It has neither form nor outline:
It sits in the shadow of love.
It dwells within the Unattainable,
The Infinite, and the Eternal;
And no one marks
When it comes and goes.
Kabir says, “O brother Sadhu!
Deep is the mystery.
Let wise men seek to know
where rests that bird.”

NOTE: This is the translation by Rabindranath Tagore from the 1915 text, One Hundred Poems of Kabir. This is poem #30 (XXX) of that volume.

Black Crow [Haiku]

a black crow, 
oily & otherworldly,
alights on a rock.

Yellow Glade [Haiku]

i follow the light
out of the woods and into
a yellow glade.

DAILY PHOTO: Baina Beach, Vasco da Gama