The Stone Elephant in Sunset
A Poem to Master Hsing Yun
Stopped when at the shore, and
became stone in solitude of walk, or
within sorrows of departure from the following crowd
So you are large poised and a little awkward
standing in the sunset
like a temple entrusted by an old old time
with its mirths and sufferings sealed tight
Or, in meditation like a cave, allowing in
the sea songs and the golden silence of the sun,
the silvery muteness of the centuries to come
indifferent to the weight you hold
forever pause at where Day and Night divide
station between Death and Life, with
a worriless thought drapped
and so you stand towards years infinitely assigned
And thus the ocean will rise to sink all shores
And ever dry lands will again tower towards the sky
Still you lean against the evening sun
loaded with heavy pearls from the deep sea
- the crown offered by the lives in the water below
(改自一首舊作)
