Poem: Changes 30/Clinging

click the sunset to enlarge

1
Fire has no form but clings
To the burning object.
Water pours down from heaven

And fire flames up from the earth.
What is dark clings to what is light.
A luminous body emitting light

Must have within itself
Straw for the fire,
Or it will burn itself out.

Everything that gives
Light depends on the object
To which it clings.

The sun and moon cling to heaven,
And the bugs, trees, and people
Cling to the earth.

2
The mind shut off from the outside
In sleep reconnects with the world
And the yellow light streaming down.

Later, in the setting sun
We bewail the approach of old age
And peek with dread

At the day
When all the revels
Are ended.
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