The Tongue Says Loneliness … and Grand Marais

We were up north for a wonderful weekend. Above is the sunrise over Lake Superior. 

I love the lake and near environs. 10% of the planet’s fresh water and all. 

We are looking for a move in a few years where we could offer Zen practice and so spent some time over the weekend playing with the possibilities of living and practicing near Grand Marais, MN. It’d be a homecoming for me.

So if you’re a Zen student living up there somewhere and would like to get a practice community going, get in touch.

Meanwhile, here’s a true Zen poem from Jane Hirshfield’s new book, Come, Thief: Poems. 

The Tongue Says Loneliness

The tongue says loneliness, anger, grief,
but does not feel them.

As Monday cannot feel Tuesday,
nor Thursday
reach back to Wednesday
as a mother reaches out for her found child.

As this life is not a gate, but the horse plunging through it.

Not a bell,
but the sound of the bell in the bell-shape,
lashing full strength with the first blow from inside the iron.