| The Chinese Travelogue | (1986)
If you could dull its perspicuity, free it from chaos, limit its gleam,
liken it to a grain of dust, then it would seem to exist clearly.
| | Lao-Tse |  |
4
There, on the hill
on whose lap
where the last hut stands
and no one ever ventures higher:
whose forehead cannot be seen behind the clouds
and one can’t tell if it’s glum or happy –
someone comes and doesn’t come, to be and not to:
the size of a swallow’s eye,
of a crumb of dry bread,
of a ladder on a butterfly’s wings,
of a ladder throw n down from the sky,
of a ladder, wliich no one wants to climb,
tinier than anything a bee can see and than the word is.
Richard McKane
***
4
There–on a mountain
at whose knees is a last hut,
and no one’s gone higher;
whose brow can’t be seen behind the storm clouds
so you can’t say whether it’s frowning or smiling –
someone comes and doesn’t, is and isn’t.
He’s the size of a swallow’s eye,
of a crumb of dry bread,
of a ladder on a butterfly’s wings,
of a ladder thrown down from heaven,
of a ladder that
no one wants to climb;
smaller than what wasps see,
smaller than the word is.
Andrew Wachtel | |
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