Deep in Darkness

"Walking at Night" - Frank Yu

"How can you bear
The weight of the world
How can you bear
To live as you do
I depend on your love"
-- Maitreya

"Without saké
Of what use are
Cherry Blossoms?"
-- anonymous haiku

Preface --
You think that life is suffering
But Buddha is only buddha
Words are only words

I.
The sun won't always shine
The wind sometimes howls
The rain follows its own mind
The earth and moon may weep

What else can I give you
When birth and death
Will always claim us all

II.
Where goes the poet's knife
Along the Actress' times
Dancing shadows hide a while
Their faces all aligned
Outside of dreams they smile

III.
Cold as the moon
Bright as the sky
Crystals of light
Meeting your eye
All our tears return

IV.
I've seen her visions
Written in the moon
Swollen with the tides

Being but blind
Her lightning eyes
Kill me again and again
And yet I ever return
To taste her kisses

V.
Hanging bells
Waiting for the wind
Yet in the stillness
I hear their song
In the lonely sky

VI.
Remember all those times
Full of nightmares
Pulled under the waves
When nothing goes right
When our pain is terrible

Those times that are the worst
More than we can stand
They are points of possibility
In the darkest darkness
New light can arise

VII.
Death may come as well
But fate is unpredictable
Dark time may change to light
Even in our deepest hell
We can awaken to love

yamabuki Zhou
Feb 2013

Cages

China at Night 2011 - yamabuki

" keeping vigil
                     doubting
        rolling
         shining and meditating

               before coming to a halt
        at some terminus that sanctifies it

 All Thought emits a Throw of the Dice"

-- Stephane Mallarme 
from his poem
"A Throw of the Dice
Will Never Abolish Chance"

"Chance and Change are brothers
Caught in time's deadly fog
There is no shelter
They cannot reach
Nor answer from their gods"
-- Maitreya


Chance caught in ice
Teeth and dice entwined
How are we to know
Where meaning lies
Within this changing world

Three their number
Beneath the skies
Caught in a dream
Spilling out lies
Where are we to sceam

Your face or mine
Whiter than snow
Blacker than light
Sheltered in glow
I am ever your moon

Three once again
You know me so well
I never could resist
Your bright tattoos
Like Dreams of death

Echos of death
Heat up the skies
Images that seer
Meaning from eyes
Burning me to always

Beijing burns dark
Smeltered in smoke
Drowned in weeds
And fox spirit eyes
Showing us your cry

Music of love
Cuts to the heart
Curtains for all
Inside the night
Of Love's lonely sigh

yamabuki Zhou

Oct 2012

Reflected in Your Eyes

"Stacked infinity pools - Bali" - Frank Yu

“Art washes away from the soul
the dust of everyday life.”
-- Pablo Picasso

2064 is not a year
Not a room number
Nor a state of mind
It's a hidden glance
Reflected in the Sun

She is always here in 2064
Light simmers among the flowers
Some say she is waiting
But light is who she is
Never changing Never the same

Went to 2046 today
In and out of mind
Looks like this
Looks like that
Unsure how to come back

Space is multi-layered in 2064
Folding in upon itself
Revealing mystery
Concealing banality
Even time is confused

Traveled to 2046 by boat
Arrive to unchanging time
Sun never sets
Moon always full
Her kisses last forever

Some say 2064 has no exit
No going back in time
No return to our beginnings
But they are quite wrong
Still the price of return is high

Some say the price is death
Others say the price is life
Or that which we value most
Now the moon is well past full
And none have returned from 2046

We never really see light in 2064
Only her complex reflections
Gentle as the floating flowers
Deep as the hidden moon
Always awaiting our touch

Meaning splits infinitely in 2046
Symbolic imagery challenges life
Death reaches beyond the sky
Networks of reflected shadows
Dance with the Queen of Hearts

2064 is not a year
Is not a room number
Nor a state of mind
It's a hidden glance
Reflected in your eyes

yamabuki Zhou
Aug 2012
Thanks to
Wong Kar Wai