Tuesday, February 7, 2012

tenderness

,

i made my home amidst this human bustle
yet i hear no clamour from the carts and horses.
my friend, you ask me how this can be so?
a distant heart will tend towards like places.
from the eastern hedge,
i pluck chrysanthemum flowers,
and idly look towards the southern hills.
the mountain air is beautiful day and night,
the birds fly back to roost with one another.
i know that this must have some deeper meaning,
i try to explain, but cannot find the words.

drinking wine tao qian

11 comments:

Pauline said...

"a distant heart will tend towards like places."

some words are so true they just take one's breath away

steven said...

and this was written nearly seventeen hundred years ago pauline . . . . steven

Valerianna said...

Smitten with this: "a distant heart will tend towards like places." as Pauline is.

Linda Sue said...

this must have some deeper meaning- perplexing always.
Love the little ball head plant in the photo! I want to pat them all and give them a cookie.

Rachel Fenton said...

"I cannot find the words" as so often happens when I read your posts, Steven, though I feel them very much. Timeless feelings.

Reya Mellicker said...

Don't ask me to explain it!

steven said...

oh reya come on pleeeeeeeeeease!!!!!! hahaha!!! steven

steven said...

valerianna - you caught the tender spot of connection . . . i crave the like places with all my heart . . . steven

steven said...

linda sue - perplex no more . . . i am simple but i hide myself behind convolutions . . . it's about the sweet spot . . . . steven

steven said...

rachel - i know . . .part of the work of being human is learning to articulate the very subtle, the very powerful, the very rich in words and that is so very very difficult. steven

erin said...

yes))))

at first i thought it was yours. i just had to check over my gushing on your latest post, laughing that perhaps tao qian had written. but this is exactly the point, isn't it? it is all of ours.

this is an incredible image, steven.

xo
erin