Completed: 2024-11-23
Come hither to this cavern I’ve made home,
And let us join together in this place;
This vast and barren enveloping space,
Inside which there is plenty room to roam.
For our first few days here let us stay mute,
And during night no less will silence hold;
For words can be crude things, clumsy and bold,
While what we seek is soft and absolute.
Let’s modestly, with shuttered lips, survey
This open area that’s tall and wide
With little but shadow and light inside;
That light that comes diffuse during the day.
Let’s rise as soon as dawn begins to break,
And gaze upon the blank fertile walls;
Imagined empty monastery halls
Will be left strewn about them in our wake.
Hours pass by like rushing, flowing streams,
And dim sunset signals the waning day;
Our silent vow we made may wash away;
Our tongues awake to whisper of their dreams.
In hushed reverent tones our words are said
Though nobody will hear us; this we know,
But still it pleases us to speak as though
There was some holy father overhead.
We play under his watchful cosmic gaze
Making soft gestures that suggest so much,
Arching over each other without touch,
And through this we give light and airy praise.
Let’s say things that mean nothing while our eyes
Cast subtle looks that linger, dim and sweet,
Our passions burn like candles, small and neat,
We never weep or yell but exchange sighs.
Our sleepy lives will flourish in the rain,
With foggy minds that cannot think at all,
Into a pure sensuous state we’ll fall,
In which beauteous Venus holds her reign.
This nectarous and floral mode of heart,
We’ll keep it for as long as it will hold;
Its scent of lilies and luster of gold:
This joined solitude transcends all art.
Entombed in happy stillness we will stay,
Forsaking all society and truth,
The former too abrasive and uncouth,
The latter never served us day to day.