Who can leap the world's ties and sit with me?

[Guest guest]

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Clambering up the Cold Mountain path,

The Cold Mountain trail goes on and on:

The long gorge choked with scree and boulders,

The wide creek, the mist-blurred grass.

The moss is slippery, though there's been no rain

The pine sings, but there's no wind.

Who can leap the world's ties

and sit with me among the white clouds?

 

- Han-Shan (fl. 627-649)

 

 

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Translated by Gary Snyder

" The Enlightened Heart "

An Anthology of Sacred Poetry

Edited by Stephen Mitchell

Harper & Row, New York , 1989