The warrior's incantation
I am already given to the power that rules my fate.
And I cling to nothing, so I will have nothing to defend.
I have no thoughts, so I will see.
I fear nothing, so I will remember myself.
Detached and at ease,
I will dart past the Eagle to be free.Carlos Castaneda in "The Eagle's gift"
Hora Inmensa
Only a bell and a bird break the stillness …
It seems that the two talk with the setting sun.
Golden colored silence, the afternoon is made of crystals
A roving purity sways the cool trees,
and beyond all that,
a transparent river dreams that trampling over pearls
it breaks loose
and flows into infinity.Juan Ramón Jiménez
I Have Longed to Move Away
I have longed to move awayFrom the hissing of the spent lie
And the old terror’s continual cry
Growing more terrible as the day
Goes over the hill and into the deep sea;
...
I have longed to move away but am afraid;
Some life, yet unspent, might explode
Out of the old lie burning on the ground,
And, crackling into the air, leave me half-blind.
- Dylan Thomas
The Nature of the World
So through discord all things are steered through all.
From the whole are all things, all things from a whole,
all things are one, each part of all, all is one;
for from a single whole all these things came,
and from them in due timer will one return,
that's ever one and many...
Often the same will be again, no end
will limit them, ever limited...
For so undying death invests all things,
all dies that's mortal, but the substrate was
and is immortal ever, fashioned thus,
yet with strange images and varied form
will change and varnish from the sight of all.
- Linus, On the Nature of the World (from Stobaeus 1.10,5).
The Ancient Seers
The excellent masters of old,
subtle, mysterious, mystic, acute,
were much too profound for their times.
Since they were not then understood,
it is better to tell how they looked.
Like men crossing streams in the winter,
how cautious!
As if all around there were danger,
how watchful!
As if they were guests on every occasion,
how dignified!
Like ice just beginning to melt
self-effacing!
Like a wood-block untouched by a tool,
how sincere!
Like a valley awaiting a guest,
how receptive!
Like a torrent that rushes along,
and so turbid!
Who, running dirty, comes clean like still waters?
Who, being quiet, moves others to fullness of life?
It is he who, embracing the Tao, is not greedy;
who endures wear and tear without needing renewal.
- Lao Tzu, The Way of Life XV (tr. by R. B. Blakney)
The Land of Youth
(Midir, a prince of Danaan invites his beloved Etain to Fairyland)
O fair-haired woman, will you come with me to the marvelous land, full of music, where the hair is primrose yellow and the body white as snow?
There none speaks of "mine" or "thine" - white are the teeth and black the brows; eyes flash with many-colored lights, and the hue of the foxglove is on every cheek.
Pleasant to the eye are the plains of Erin, but they are a desert to the Great Plain.
Heady is the ale of Erin, but the ale of the Great Plain is headier.
It is one of the wonders of that land that youth does not change into age.
Smooth and sweet are the streams that flow through it; mead and wine abound of every kind; there men are all fair, without blemish; there women conceive without sin.
We see around us on every side, yet no man seeth us; the cloud of the sin of Adam hides us from their observation.
O lady, if you wilt come to my strong people, the purest of gold shall be on thy head - thy meat shall be swine's flesh unsalted, new milk and mead shalt thou drink with me there, O fair-haired woman.
- The Wooing of Etain, from the Yellow Book of Lecan.
The Ultimate Attainment
Pang Yun (740-808 A.C.)
The past is already past.
Don't try to regain it.
The present does not stay.
Don't try to touch it.
From moment to moment.
The future has not come;
Don't think about it
Beforehand.
Whatever comes to the eye,
Leave it be.
There are no commandments
To be kept;
There's no filth to be cleansed.
With empty mind really
Penetrated, the dharmas
Have no life.
When you can be like this,
You've completed
The ultimate attainment.
Angels' Flight
There are angels who are destined to fly downward into the dark mists.
Often, they get caught there, and for a time, they lose their wings,and they are lost, sometimes for nearly a lifetime.
It doesn't really matter, they are still angels; angels never die.They know that the mist will clear someday, if only for a moment.
And they know that they will be reclaimed then, at last, by a golden sky.
-by 'Blue Scout'
The eternal tavern
Finally you have broken away
and departed into the Unseen;
I wonder, I wonder—by which way
did you depart from the world?
You beat your feathers and wings mightily
and broke your cage;
you took the air and departed
towards the spiritual world.
You were a special falcon
in captivity to an old woman;
when you heard the falcon-drum,
you departed to the placeless.
You were a drunken nightingale
amongst owls;
the scent of the rose garden arrived,
you departed to the rose garden.
You suffered much crop sickness from this sour ferment;
finally you departed to the eternal tavern.
You went straight as an arrow to the target of bliss;
you flew to that target and departed from this bow.
This world like a ghoul
gave you false clues;
you took no heed of the clue
and departed to the clueless.
Since you have become the sun,
what have you to do with a crown?
Since you have departed from the middle,
why do you seek a belt?
I have heard tell of gazing on the soul
when the eyes are extinguished;
why do you gaze on the soul,
since you have departed to the soul of soul?
O heart, what a rare bird you are,
that in hunting for the All-Grateful
you departed towards the lance
with two wings like a shield.
The rose flees from autumn;
ah, what a bold rose you are,
that you went creeping along
before the autumn wind.
Like rain from heaven
on the roof of the earthly world
you ran in every direction
and departed by the spout.
Be silent
suffer not the anguish of speech;
sleep on, for you have departed into the shelter
of such a loving friend.
Jalaleddin Rumi