A Farewell for Tu Huang

Water weaving Ch'u and Wu into a single home village,
you set out on a spring river. It's all vast and vague,

and your sails: when night falls, they'll rest at anchor
along the edge of heaven, that slice through the heart.
	- from The Mountain Poems of Meng Hao-jan, as translated by David Hinton
		. . . . .

There is a place on the river
Where it splits in two around an island
And then in two again around another island
Between the two islands, a rapids
A big standing wave
Which you can avoid if that's what you'd really like to do
But on a hot day, it's like taking a two-second swim
As long as you stay upright.

A favorite place on the river
Once I saw an osprey there
It flew off as I paddled by.

Entering the river world
Can be like entering heaven
The river, a universe of its own, primal
If you open your heart to it,
It offers a glimpse into a different reality.

. . .

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