Friday, October 29, 2010

wordcraft

come, heart, where hill is heaped upon hill
- yeats, fr. into the twilight (1899)
夕   陽     山      外    山
on the hill behind the hill the sun sets
李叔同 li shutong, fr. the farewell song (1910's)

bewitching words however you look at them. the imagery is at once as extravagantly lyrical as the irishman gets (go read his entire poem) and as beautifully spare as the rest of the chinese monk's verse.

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