A Satisfying Morning
More wonder in this wonder-filled world: the book beneath The Gift in my second-cup-of-coffee stack* turned out to be Soul Food: Nourishing Poems for Starved Minds, edited by Neil Astley and Pamela Robertson-Pearce, and the next poem presented for my reading pleasure is this:
When the Shoe Fits
by Chuang-Tzu, translated from the Chinese by Thomas MertonCh’ui the draftsman
Could draw more perfect circles freehand
Than with a compass.His fingers brought forth
Spontaneous forms from nowhere. His mind
Was meanwhile free and without concern
With what he was doing.No application was needed
His mind was perfectly simple
And knew no obstacle.So, when the shoe fits
The foot is forgotten,
When the belt fits
The belly is forgotten,
When the heart is right
“For” and “against” are forgotten.No drives no compulsions
No needs, no attractions:
Then your affairs
Are under control.
You are a free man.Easy is right. Begin right
And you are easy.
Continue easy and you are right.
The right way to go easy
Is to forget the right way
And forget that the going is easy.
*See previous post: The Gift of Art
