Chinese Poem

Auspicious Arrival of Yung T'ao

This morning
laughing together-
just a few days
in a hundred.

After birds pass
over Sword Gate, it's calm;
invaders from the south
have withdrawn to the Lu River wilds.

We walk on frosted ground
praising chrysanthemums bordering fields;
sit on the east edge of the woods
waiting for the moon to rise.

Not having to be alone
is happiness;
we do not talk
of failure or success.

By Chia Tao, Translated by Mike O'Connor.

Chinese Poem and Richard Brautigan.

Seeking but not Finding the Recluse
Under pines
I ask the boy:

he says "My master's gone
to gather herbs.

I only know
he's on this mountain,

But the clouds are too deep
to know where."
By Chia Tao, translated by Mike O'Connor.

Excerpt from "In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan"
Moths fluttered above the light that came out of the river from the tombs below. There were five or six moths fluttering over each tomb.
              Suddenly a big trout jumped out of the water above a tomb and got one of the moths. The other moths scattered and then came back again, and the same trout jumped again and got another moth. He was a smart old trout.
              The trout did not jump any more and the moths fluttered peacefully above the light coming from the tombs.

From the chapter "Vegetables".