Prayer flags, 2015
~*~*~*~*~*~
Hearing the cuckoo,
even in Kyoto
I long for Kyoto.
~Basho
~*~*~*~*~*~
These ten words flay me down to my very bones every single time I've ever read them. I sit...a shell, broken open, bleeding, sad, weeping, aching, burning, longing...for...????? If you've ever thought that you needed an abundance of words to say something, then come back and consider these ten words.
They mortally wound, then heal, equally. How is that possible?
xo,
Marion, shattered---yet
If you've never seen photos of Kyoto, then search online. It's a wonder...a feast for the eyes and spirit---
2 comments:
i think it's one of the most important poems ever written. it points to our inability to be complete in the moment.
and yet the longing is a sweetness. i would not want nonbeing... (although there are times i breathe and try to empty myself of everything else.)
i have to laugh at myself over this poem. i might have gone my whole life without ever encountering it. i was in my 40's!!! i spent decades not knowing about it or basho. and everything that lead to it was, of course, accidental and luck.
in a way i am now only about five years old. i consider this a good time to start learning:)
great things to you in this new year, marion, but here you are starting out with one of the greatest!
Erin, I know...isn't life strange? I read my first poem as a child, really, in jr. high school and it was like I'd been blind my entire life and poetry opened my eyes. What confounds me is why so few people feel as I do, hence this blog. I've had close to a half million people read some poetry here and that makes me happy. Your enlightenment is a wonder...xo
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