Ryokan's Kind Words

        Were there someone

        in the world

        who feels as I feel,

        we would talk all night

        in this grass hut.

(From Tanahashi's translation of Ryokan poems Sky Above, Great Wind. Another verse follows below.)

Genju recently posted a review of this wonderful book along with some of her own brush work reminding me of this poem. It's reminiscent of much of the poetry I love in that it calls out to our wish to share in wonder an appreciation of life and of each other. 

In actuality though, what would such a conversation involve? Most likely an exchange of trivialities that falls short of the wonder we wish to share our experience of. Silence and sitting tend to be more effective ways of experiencing and sharing that sense of wonder, as well as increasing our experience of wonder in every day life.

(Photo of a portion of Soyoung L Kim's 100 Cups of Tea. More of her work can be found at saatchionline.)

        I don’t regard my life

        as insufficient.

        Inside the brushwood gate

        there is a moon;

        there are flowers.

I'm grateful to have this blog in which to share some of that sense of wonder with any person who wanders by.