• TOC
  Letting Go INTRODUCTION    INTRODUCTION - James Crowden SHERBORNE    Sherborne Lake    Spirit    Hebridean Camp: April    Son of the morning    Loon    Passing time NEW FOREST    New Forest    Gar Gar    Red Berries    Stone Circle    Dawn on Fleet Street (Untitled) SOUTHAMPTON    University Intellectualism    Drought    Poor Man’s Street    Sob Heart    Summer    Italian Cemetery    Moon on a Tightrope    Waiting    Lunar Philosophy    A Word HONG KONG    Easter Leave    Orange blossom    Boat people fishing at night    Beetle    Hermit    …    Lest the memory grow dim    ……….    Reflection on Past Time    In Chinese Mode: Thinking of a Friend    Voyage to Japan – MV Hermod    ………. CAMBRIDGE    Cambridge    Blown from these Mountains    ..........    ..........    ..........    ..........    ..........    After Africa AFRICA    Tassili Fresco    Africa    Leopard INDIA    In a Dark Time    ……….    ……….    ……….    Seychelles GREECE    Iliovasilema    Cabavis    Paros    Islands WALES    Tapping on Stones above Pyllau Clais    Maenllwyd - Three Poems    ……….    ……….    Welsh Winter: Maenllwyd    ……….    Comet Above The Yard    The Fenceless Gate (for Hughie)    Flickering Lamp Hotel (to Carol)    Welsh Mandala    The Silence    July at Maenllwyd COTSWOLDS    Christmas Eve; Driving Home    Separation    Scent of Wisteria    Old Man’s Toes    Christmas cards - around again    Spring    Les Roches Fleuries    Bird Dawn On Mendip FAMILY    Dad    HCC in Memoriam    Uncle Frank DARK TIME    Black Rooks    Quarelling    Children    Trap    Warning    The Man in the Park    Merlin Woods BUDDHISM    Inspiring Words from the Teacher    Zendo Opening Ceremony    Contract for an Occasional Retreat (Recite together:)    Aspirational Prayer for Daily Use    On Pursuing That Which Leaves No Tracks    Exhortation    Benediction    Maenllwyd Mandala    Mealtime Ceremonial at the Maenllwyd Retreat Centre    Letting Go    Shaman    Buddha    Simply an Absence    Old No Eye    Old Myoko-ni    Saint Mollaise of Holy Island    ………. MISCELLANEOUS    Lightenment    Equinox    Departure    Good intentions    Kabir    Tribute    Tylocin : Poland.    Yes    Quelque Part sur Mer    London in November    America - Windows of the Train.    Small town - Northern Poland    Klamerz in Kazimierz    Mametz Wood    Mametz Wood    SUMMER LADAKH    ……….    Taking Tourists to Zangskar    Poem in Two Voices - John Crook and James Crowden INDIAN PILGRIMAGE 1996    Bodhgaya    Calcutta    Bus travel    Railway    Banaras    Kali shrine    Humayuns tomb    Near the hotel ANTARCTICA    First Ice    Wandering Albatross    Snowy Petrels    Elephant Seal    Sheathbill    Leopard Seal    Penguins    Orca    Wintry Return ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS    ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• Previous
• Next

Old Myoko-ni

Old Myoko-ni

never came this way

the beds no doubt too damp the track too steep

and too much laughter. No doubt the kyosoku not long enough -

yet the gaunt pine stands sentinel. No nonsense cooking here

these hearts as empty bowls lined up for washing.

Doing their own practice in their own way -

mist laden groves,

cloud valley, village invisible. The bell rings a rainwet hand collecting sitters in still rows

tap - tap - precipitating silences.

Monks in mufti

adorn this quiet refectory

lifting spoons to silenced tongues dim light at noon requiring candles serving an extraordinary soup

bowl by bowl

the measured ladle.

In the library books

stand motionless in their places. Outside the Welsh monsoon greys the valley drab.

The sound of scribbling copies some ancient words.

Few farmers come up this hill

the sheep take care of themselves, scan the empty valley

hear the tumbling stream returning cloud waters seeking again a distant sea.

Too high for Kingfishers too wet for skylark flight

Wrens like mice run below the ferns mushrooms fairy circling scant grass thinking of soup.

Today silence hangs around these yards of meditation,

rain drops purl from the old roof. No wind - heavy leaves

breathe - sheep stand still

in their wet wool, water keeps the flies grounded.