Basho, A Departure
Summer is over and
we part, like eyelids,
like clams opening.
Hass says, "There is a buried metaphorical pun in the Japanese that all Buddhist teaching is rooted in: all being awake is saying good-bye. Or, to put it another way, every time we say good-bye, we awake to the nature of things."
I feel today that I am saying good-bye to how I thought things "ought" to be, and accepting them more as they are, and perhaps, that, then, is being more "awake to the nature of things." I hope so. I'm hoping to more clearly let go of expectation and "should," and just accept the absolute beauty and unfolding of this world's flow. There is peace there, comfort, and infinite smiles.
