Four Poems

Echo

To mountains at dusk
What are you?

What are you are you …

A Rainbow

There are such things, straightening clothes.

Asking the Way

You blockheads who ask what Buddha is
should start asking about every sentient being
instead.
Ask about everything.
When you're hungry
    ask about food.
Ask the moonlight about the way.
Find a port where lemon trees bloom
    where lemon trees bloom.
Ask about places to drink in the port.

Ask and ask till nothing's left to ask.

Discontent

Discontent! What a powerful thing it is.
We all should have
    more discontents that ought to be
than discontents that are.
The discontent that I feel for myself
when at midnight I inspect myself
under direct light from a lamp.
Half-written texts
books as yet unread
a watch gone dead
these are surely my strength.
Outside the window
I see cars rushing down Route 38 by night.
Even they
are my discontent.
What a powerful thing!

Note

“Echo,” “A Rainbow,” and “Asking the Way” are from Beyond Self: 108 Korean Zen Poems by Ko Un, trans. Young-Moo Kim and Brother Anthony (Berkeley, Calif.: Parallax Press, 1997). Reprinted with permission of the translators. “Discontent” is from Ko Un, Songs of Tomorrow, trans. Nak-chung Paik, You-me Park, and James West (Seoul: Changbi Publishers, 1992). Reprinted with the permission of the author and translators.

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