satyam dhukka

when we say here
we mean the other world

when we say there
we mean the other world

name's recompense
is in parting
soul's recompense
is in parting

there is no dwelling there
there is no dwelling here

in parting
we take refuge


mougins, 2006
                                

legacy

only few words will
remain with us once
of coming and going
we shall be dispensed
of destiny cleansed
of remains effaced
boneless
pathless
astray

and so these words
clueless
homeless
emptied
emptied of melody
tomorrow
breeze
silence

free


mougins, 2006


 

end of trance

from gold to amber
now for the end flight
cast in glassy brown
oak leaves
together
we shed summer
in these hills

letting you sleep awhile
at the foot of giant rocks
i move down a stony trail

shadow slithering on scree
and cross the bloodline
of voiceless rooks



la rochette, 2005

happy temperance

a cut in the eye
wish of parting
in the heart

we the dead

the living
munch the same morsel

a bitter root
at times mellow
night feeds us on

upon crest of flames

dust steers our fortune
ahead


paris, 16 September 1990




 

sometimes

despite the word twilight
bareness enters the day
without dispelling us

restrained by dormant melodies

the clock swirls above our heads

come what may
we will still be
part tomorrow
part forgetfulness
 
steps waver
misguided by sand
marine mantras 

spiral of dust rises from stone

does not linger on the poem

you weigh a mouthful of flame
so the wind contends

night pleases 
appeases us

marga

blue
never saw you so blue
as in this winter light
cold pale winter light

tides rising from earth
from heaven towers falling
mountains
you have traced our road

painfully long
yes
blissfully brief
these rungs we climb
up or down your ladder
not knowing which

marga

la rochette, 2005

remembering the hour

then 
the hour of clarity comes
so the blind man can see
what it is he has come to save
what it is he has come to ruin
for solitude to stay its course
as hands unfold
onto dreamless
opacity

in these lower hills
may night birds 
keep breaking
our bread of desolation
with swift songs
of blazing stars
consumed infernos

mandrem, march 2013

 

meeting the face

at summer’s end i greet you again
trade in my thirst with your roots

its twilight in blue mountains
my shadow finds shelter 
in yours

wall frames your absent face
as through sleep we move on


la rochette, 2005

rohatsu

winter retreat ends
pain floods the body
chills the burning bough

roaming on country road

an icy wind in the sleeves
cold rain slapping th feace
each step sinking you
deeper into mud

where to turn tonight

bitter winter
on the road

rohatsu sesshin, 1999

agean

in this night's tumult
were there still a voice
arms would open wide
to brace for what winds
may yet have to offer

lest my scream rejoin

rejoin the moving sea-bed 
of uprooted constellations

milos  6 september 1992

master tokuda

how far with learning
before knowing emerges
into knowing
before unknowing is revealed

how long in voiceless dark

before the unspeakable
murmurs the opening syllable
and the man of such
turns his face
begins to utter
words of water
streaming over
words of stone

your disciple

tetsu-un

ei tai-ji

september sesshin

2004

prayer

perfectly still
perfectly cold
mind-cold

light goes out

from the hidden shed
deep in the valley

mind-cold

sphere-cold
that lofty music
finally stilled

closer than before

voice itself is the stranger
it speaks to you in words
you cannot understand
speaks as you stand in the herb
speaks with the tall herb too
with wandering pollens
this year’s
that year's
unbesought
unbeseeched

thinking of walter

walking through wild grass
not easy to tell 
pre-dawn dew
from late morning rain
on bending grass

must be the same circle

where mirrors merge
wherein the hazel tree
forsakes cascade of gold
to draughts of november
whisperings

le rocher de la baume, 2005

dark of late

contentment with this
doubt all to cinder reduces
but dissolve itself cannot

still some sleep ahead
parted equally in days and nights
what comes after is of no concern
may what comes after keep coming

part of the howls you hear
goes to fill empty spaces
part we do not know

dogs tire of barking
into silence
night relapses


ubud, 2 december 2012

omens

from afar

farther than birth cries

uprooting winds
are coming

taking you where

taking us where

salutary flames

back to stars of afar

prayers of rain

salutary flames

rolling us over the sea

taking us where

uprooting winds

back to stars of afar

brushing us off

earth’s hardened edges

into our arms they fall

lights of ripened pains

scars of hollowed trees

thoroughly bitter

thoroughly sweet
the stars of afar

                          

 mandrem, 24 april 2012

sleep

i offer you what resistance i have
for you consent to dig deeper into me
in your nearness sleep
shuffle of change resounds no more
wish to be burdened with heavier fruit

branches stretch out bare in the cold
flow of your sap stiffens the roots
where are we heading in this dark
why is the wind harsh on me
blowing out the ashes’ glow
before i take heart to the woods

after the rains

in this roar
nights many
and days
successively
slumber
reawaken

it floods and flows back
beyond your questioning

words not opening
not emerging from silence

their retreat
perhaps a sign

distances growwithin
wherein you raise
wherein you fade

growing too
with enclosures
walls
moss
caking stones of wells
paddies lavishly swaying
your questioning
blind


mandrem, september 2007

hishiryo

in the heart of autumn
i sit on a cushion
covering golden slopes
with my robe

day and night
the rain’s voice pummels
chilling the marrow
of trees and beasts

am i thinking
am i nonthinking
dripping beyond thinking

meeting the face

its destiny you said
encounter of destinies
should one time we meet

it was an overnight stay
in a rundown hermitage
stars spread over the sky
greet your dark flame
some hidden sorrow of the sea

you see my hour go blind
you see shades roll over me
for i need to step aside
to let your echo pass
in the growing mountain

le rocher da la baume, 2000