Suntria

My legacy –
What will it be?
Flowers in spring,
The cuckoo in summer,
And the crimson maples
Of autumn …

– Ryokan (1758-1831)
Dewdrops on a Lotus Leaf, p.143
Translated by John Stevens

5 comments

  1. George Harrison – Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)

    Give me love
    Give me love
    Give me peace on earth
    Give me light
    Give me life
    Keep me free from birth
    Give me hope
    Help me cope, with this heavy load
    Trying to, touch and reach you with,
    heart and soul

    OM M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M My Lord . . .

    PLEASE take hold of my hand, that
    I might understand you

    Won’t you please
    Oh won’t you

    Give me love
    Give me love
    Give me peace on earth
    Give me light
    Give me life
    Keep me free from birth
    Give me hope
    Help me cope, with this heavy load
    Trying to, touch and reach you with,
    heart and soul

    OM M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M My Lord . . .

    PLEASE take hold of my hand, that
    I might understand you

  2. The Stolen Child

    Where dips the rocky highland
    Of Sleuth Wood in the lake,
    There lies a leafy island
    Where flapping herons wake
    The drowsy water rats;
    There we’ve hid our faery vats,
    Full of berrys
    And of reddest stolen cherries.
    Come away, O human child!
    To the waters and the wild
    With a faery, hand in hand,
    For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.

    Where the wave of moonlight glosses
    The dim gray sands with light,
    Far off by furthest Rosses
    We foot it all the night,
    Weaving olden dances
    Mingling hands and mingling glances
    Till the moon has taken flight;
    To and fro we leap
    And chase the frothy bubbles,
    While the world is full of troubles
    And anxious in its sleep.
    Come away, O human child!
    To the waters and the wild
    With a faery, hand in hand,
    For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.

    Where the wandering water gushes
    From the hills above Glen-Car,
    In pools among the rushes
    That scarce could bathe a star,
    We seek for slumbering trout
    And whispering in their ears
    Give them unquiet dreams;
    Leaning softly out
    From ferns that drop their tears
    Over the young streams.
    Come away, O human child!
    To the waters and the wild
    With a faery, hand in hand,
    For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.

    Away with us he’s going,
    The solemn-eyed:
    He’ll hear no more the lowing
    Of the calves on the warm hillside
    Or the kettle on the hob
    Sing peace into his breast,
    Or see the brown mice bob
    Round and round the oatmeal chest.
    For he comes, the human child,
    To the waters and the wild
    With a faery, hand in hand,
    For the world’s more full of weeping than he can understand.

    William Butler Yeats

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