Reading Chinese Paintings

Reading Chinese Paintings

 

 

A man reads an ancient book
Did the book write the man?

I watch the mists rise
Are they spirits or clouds?

Sea swallows the sky
Earth cannot reach heaven

Cities float beneath cloudless skies
How did they learn to swim through the air?

Maples color water and earth
Heavens laughs, paints air pink

I chase the clouds with my eyes
When I touch them they disappear

The pines on the river start to sing
Geese on its banks bow to dance

Rain blackens the lakes
Sunlight lifts the mountains

I came to see the waterfalls
But can only hear the clouds

A sage cannot say why he left home
I do not know why he came to me

I would sit above the sky
But feel too weak to part the mist