IMPERMANENCE SONG

1.

I burnt the koans, threw the sutras, in recognition,

Followed the moonlit path of ambition
(The moonlight being now bright now gray)

To look for the sage who had hidden out-of-the-way,       

Left subastral for forests trying to be an eremite.

The life line of an anchorite

Seemed to tint the miasma tinge.

At marinas, on impermanence who would impinge?

After a long route, horses were loose from bridle.

On the cliff dimly loomed the portrait of the idol.

2.
I flung the koans, buried the sutras, in non-realization,       

Skirted rivers and seas to reach peaceful mentation.

Half-spleenful, half-remembering, half-forgetting

Suddenly disappeared in the ethereal setting.

My deceiving hand wrote verse on each leaf.

The lymphatic soul felt adrift in the deluding fief.

Where were you still?

Where were humans? why was so silent the nil?

Night flowers' fragrancy boded a bloom environment.      

3.
I destroyed the koans, the sutras, in enlightenment,            

Entered the mundane market in a thin cloak,

Felt faint in dust and smoke.

Slanted was the sunshine.

Streets' noise sounded fitfully as illusion divine.

Who am I, with the craze?
Who am I so that my psyche falls in daze?

Who are you?

Who are you whose mien has such vague hue?

Wine ho! hey, I drink alone! Far drift my feet freed.   

Clouds transform, rain drops each thin tiny bead.