Week 3: SEE (REVEAL)

Drawing by J.M.W. Turner

The poem is from Su Tung Po,  almost 1000 years ago, in Sung Dynasty China,. The drawing--by Turner--from maybe 1820. Departures, settings out--and all that's seen en route, or better said, just prior to. Where seeing becomes an act towards new beginnings...


'On a Boat, Awake at Night’

Faint wind rustles reeds and cattails;
I open the hatch, expecting rain – moon floods the lake.
Boatmen and water-birds dream the same dream;
A big fish splashes off like a frightened fox.
It’s late – men and creatures forget each other
While my shadow and I amuse ourselves alone.
Dark tides creep over the flats – I pity the cold mud-worms;
The setting moon, caught in a willow, lights a dangling spider.
Life passes swiftly, hedged by sorrow;
How long before you’ve lost it – a scene like this?
Cocks crow, bells ring, a hundred birds scatter;
Drums pound from the bow, shout answers shout.


Line 12. "Drums." Drums were sounded in the bow when the boat was underway.
Selected Poems of Su Tung-p’o, translated by Burton Watson. Port Townsend, Washington: Copper Canyon Press, 199.