This Bundle of Flowers Planted on a Paper Scroll
Taken from “CATEGORY 15 – Classical Prose and Modern Poetry” in the book H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III
On a tranquil, silent night,
a black bird
brought me to the flower garden.
In a small, white room
I was allowed a long sleep.
The love of my friends
has always brought peace to my heart.
But why have you gone so far away?
That you’re so casual about our meetings
fills me with longing,
for my feet cannot move even a step.
I have seen the endless cloudy sky of morning
I have seen the black hanging curtain of night
My head has felt the sunlight and the moonlight
of thirty-six thousand days.
Yet the blossoms at my brow
have neither grown nor withered,
The clothes on my body
have never changed.
I need no defenders,
For I am brave.
That swarm of hunting bees
has hit an unexpected wall.
They roll on the ground, and haltingly crawl about.
Ah!
I can see now,
This bundle of flowers is planted on a paper scroll.
Ah!
Hanging on the wall,
Facing the white cloud sky,
Facing the white cloud sky.
(Poem translated into English from the Chinese by Charlie Egan)