(A song for careless meditators)
1
I’m sitting by a river at a mountain’s foot,
Deaf for questions and my answers are all mute;
I’m the lazy waters moving slow,
I’m the mountain mirrored in the flow.
A bird come flying and I see a single feather
Falling to the river and I wonder whether
I could be the feather for today
Moving with the waters far away.
2
I’ve sailed before the evening to a country place,
Seen a lovely maiden of amazing grace,
Carrying a bucket in her hand,
Leaving tiny footprints in the sand.
She gently bends down from a bamboo pier now,
Draws up water but begins to peer now;
She can see me and I get to know
To her slender fingers I should go.
3
I’m coming backwards to the mountain’s foot,
Got her with me and she’s got her bad repute;
She is mistress of forbidden ground
Turning me and my system round.
We’ve come back now but the place is not the same view,
It has changed and its voice tells me ‘I blame you
For the mountain that was once so high
And the river that is running dry’.