Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

W.S. Merwin

The quiet morning has a few cloud friends
that are gone when I look for them again
in this one summer to which I have come
after everything that I remember
what can I call it before it has gone
it does not hear me and does not know me
it passes without seeing I am here
it is only me going my own way
there is no one else who can forget it

(Forgetting Clouds)

Merwin is another poet whose work I heard often at Zen Center, and I always enjoyed hearing it. In his obituary, I read that he studied with Robert Aitken in Hawaii, which makes sense.

Responses

  1. Mark S Avatar
    Mark S

    This was a favorite of mine from Merwin.

    For the Anniversary of My Death

    Every year without knowing it I have passed the day
    When the last fires will wave to me
    And the silence will set out
    Tireless traveler
    Like the beam of a lightless star

    Then I will no longer
    Find myself in life as in a strange garment
    Surprised at the earth
    And the love of one woman
    And the shamelessness of men
    As today writing after three days of rain
    Hearing the wren sing and the falling cease
    And bowing not knowing to what

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  2. shundo Avatar
    shundo

    Thanks Mark, that is lovely. I hope you are well!

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