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Stray Birds
by
76
The poet wind is out over the sea and the forest to seek his own voice.
77
Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man.
78
The grass seeks her crowd in the earth.
The tree seeks his solitude of the sky.
79
Man barricades against himself.
80
Your voice, my friend, wanders in my heart, like the muffled sound of the sea among these listening pines.
81
What is this unseen flame of darkness whose sparks are the stars?
82
Let life be beautiful like summer flowers and death like autumn leaves.
88
He who wants to do good knocks at the gate; he who loves finds the gate open.
84
In death the many becomes one; in life the one becomes many.
Religion will be one when God is dead.
85
The artist is the lover of Nature, therefore he is her slave and her master.
86
“How far are you from me, O Fruit?”
“I am hidden in your heart, O Flower.”
87
This longing is for the one who is felt in the dark, but not seen in the day.
88
“You are the big drop of dew under the lotus leaf, I am the smaller one on its upper side,” said the dewdrop to the lake.
89
The scabbard is content to be dull when it protects the keenness of the sword.
90
In darkness the One appears as uniform; in the light the One appears as manifold.
91
The great earth makes herself hospitable with the help of the grass.
92
The birth and death of the leaves are the rapid whirls of the eddy whose wider circles move slowly among stars.
93
Power said to the world, “You are mine.
The world kept it prisoner on her throne.
Love said to the world, “I am thine.”
The world gave it the freedom of her house.
94
The mist is like the earth’s desire. It hides the sun for whom she cries.
95
Be still, my heart, these great trees are prayers.
96
The noise of the moment scoffs at the music of the Eternal.
97
I think of other ages that floated upon the stream of life and love and death and are forgotten, and I feel the freedom of passing away.
98
The sadness of my soul is her bride’s veil.
It waits to be lifted in the night.
99
Death’s stamp gives value to the coin of life; making it possible to buy with life what is truly precious.
100
The cloud stood humbly in a corner of the sky.
The morning crowned it with splendour.
101
The dust receives insult and in return offers her flowers.
102
Do not linger to gather flowers to keep them, but walk on, for flowers will keep themselves blooming all your way.
103
Roots are the branches down in the earth.
Branches are roots in the air.
104
The music of the far-away summer flutters around the Autumn seeking its former nest.
105
Do not insult your friend by lending him merits from your own pocket.
106
The touch of the nameless days clings to my heart like mosses round the old tree.
107
The echo mocks her origin to prove she is the original.
108
God is ashamed when the prosperous boasts of His special favour.
109
I cast my own shadow upon my path, because I have a lamp that has not been lighted.
110
Man goes into the noisy crowd to drown his own clamour of silence.
111
That which ends in exhaustion is death, but the perfect ending is in the endless.
112
The sun has his simple robe of light. The clouds are decked with gorgeousness.
113
The hills are like shouts of children who raise their arms, trying to catch stars.
114
The road is lonely in its crowd for it is not loved.