Dreaming Down Roadways Of Evening : Antonio Machado

Lovers In The Moon Light 

~ Marc Chagall 

( 1887 ~ 1985)

I go dreaming down roadways

of evening. Emerald pine-trees

golden hillsides

dusty oak-leaves…!

Where does this road go?

I go travelling, singing,

into the road’s far distance…

– evening falls slow –

‘I bore in my heart

the thorn of passion:

Drew it out one day

And my heart is numb.’

And suddenly all the land

was silent, mute and sombre,

meditating. Sound of the wind

in the riverside poplars.

Evening’s more shadowy

and the turning road

that faintly whitens

blurs, in vanishing.

Lament, my song turns to:

‘Gold thorn, so sharp

Could I but feel you

lodged in my heart.’

~ ANTONIO MACHADO 

    (1875 ~ 1939)

A Farewell To The Father & A Letter On The White Ashes ..

A Letter On The White Ashes

When I deeply contemplate the transient nature of human life, I realize that, from beginning to end, life is impermanent like an illusion. We have not yet heard of anyone who lived ten thousand years. How fleeting is a lifetime! Who in this world today can maintain a human form for even a hundred years? There is no knowing whether I will die first or others, whether death will occur today or tomorrow. We depart one after another more quickly than the dewdrops on the roots or the tips of the blades of grasses. So it is said. Hence, we may have radiant faces in the morning, but by evening we may turn into white ashes. Once the winds of impermanence have blown, our eyes are instantly closed and our breath stops forever. Then, our radiant face changes its color, and the attractive countenance like peach and plum blossoms is lost. Family and relatives will gather and grieve, but all to no avail? Since there is nothing else that can be done, they carry the deceased out to the fields, and then what is left after the body has been cremated and has turned into the midnight smoke is just white ashes. Words fail to describe the sadness of it all. Thus the ephemeral nature of human existence is such that death comes to young and old alike without discrimination. So we should all quickly take to heart the matter of the greatest importance of the afterlife, entrust ourselves deeply to Amida Buddha, and recite the nembutsu. Humbly and respectfully.

~ Rennyo (15th Century)

And For No Reason ~ Hāfez-e Shīrāzī

Gustav Klimt ~ The Kiss (1908)

And For No Reason

And

For no reason

I start skipping like a child.

And

For no reason

I turn into a leaf

That is carried so high

I kiss the sun’s mouth

And dissolve.

And

For no reason

A thousand birds

Choose my head for a conference table,

Start passing their

Cups of wine

And their wild songbooks all around.

And

For every reason in existence

I begin to eternally,

To eternally laugh and love!

When I turn into a leaf

And start dancing,

I run to kiss our beautiful Friend

And I dissolve in the Truth

That I Am.

~ Hāfez-e Shīrāzī 

(14th Century)

(Translation ~ Daniel Landinsky)