Exact
by Rae Armantrout
Quick, before you die,
describe
the exact shade
of this hotel carpet.
What is the meaning
of the irregular, yellow
spheres, some
hollow,
gathered in patches
on this bedspread?
If you love me,
worship
the objects
I have caused
to represent me
in my absence.
*
Over and over
tiers
of houses spill
pleasantly
down that hillside.
It
might be possible
to count occurrences.
獨坐敬亭山
李白
眾鳥高飛盡
孤雲獨去閑
相看兩不厭
只有敬亭山
Zazen on Ching-t’ing Mountain
by Li Po
Translated by Sam Hamill
The birds have vanished down the sky.
Now the last cloud drains away.
We sit together, the mountain and me,
until only the mountain remains.
