
Fragrant Knot (after visiting the Portland Classical Chinese Garden, 2006)
I am my own 4-sided hall with windows all around.
Passing nearby you are sure to see what is happening inside,
although you may not understand everything you see.
I am my own painted boat in misty rain
floating with my own small boatload of friends,
letting everyone on at once, but keeping just a few afloat at a time.
I am my own 10,000 ravines engulfed in misty clouds.
Rarely do you see all of me at once. Like the Chinese landscape artist,
I'm always revealing parts of myself--never the whole.
I am my own Garden of Awakening Orchids,
which just now happen to be in fragrant bloom. If you lean in close
enough and feel so inclined, you could listen to my fragrance.
I am my own fragrant knot, twisted and bent through the years,
growing more permanent and beautiful; the awakening orchid
and one of the 10,000 flowers that dares to blossom in the snow.
