June 3, 2022

A Billion Coins Of Dew

"Moonlight Over Hay Bales" by Paul McMillan



Ryushu Shutaku (1308 - 1388) was a Japanese Zen priest and poet of Nanzen-ji Temple in Kyoto.

I enjoyed a poem by Shutaku today in which he highlighted a point that resonates across the ages: there are many things that no amount of money can buy.

Inspired, I ran with that to express my own experience using the creative scaffolding of his piece.

I wrote the following: 

For all these years,
My certain simplicity:
Neither the consumer or consumerism exist.
All my possessions neat within a box,
My walking shoes by the door,
I lie in bed bathed in a full moon
Or, hearing peepers in the woods, 
I sit up: none can 
purchase pleasure such as this:
Spread across the field of hay, a billion
coins of dew!




1 comment:

  1. Anonymous6/04/2022

    beautiful words ringing gentle bells of truth.

    ReplyDelete

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