If You Are Looking for a Place to Rest

If You Are Looking for a Place to Rest

If you seek rest,
the mountain waits in silence.
The pines breathe their ancient song,
a silent music that deepens as you draw near.

Beneath their shade, a hermit studies
The Tao, pages worn by time and wind.
The years hide the path behind him —
Long ago he forgot the way back.

High on the summit, the horizon opens,
Mountains without end in every direction.
The moon gazes down,
On its own reflection in a still pond.
The night is cold at the edge of silence,
the mountain listens to my song of peace.
- Heron Dance interpretation of Han Shan’s (Cold Mountain’s) song of peace.

About Han Shan

Han Shan — Cold Mountain — was a Tang-dynasty hermit whose poems survive without a known date or author's name. He wrote on rocks and trees. The Tao Te Ching was, by most accounts, his only companion.