A Solo Renhai
Sailing On
A Renhai by Vaughn Seward
July 23-27, 2008
Giant sequoia —
a butterfly's wings open
then close...
Distant waves shimmer —
a tiny speck sails on.
Blue sky —
his red balloon slips
out of his hand.
Season: Summer (Butterfly; Sailing; Balloon)
Theme: Contrasted Size
Pattern: Verse 1=Land; Verse 2=Water; Verse 3=Air
Link: 1 to 2: Waving.
Link: 2 to 3: Sailing.
Link: 3 to 1: Flying.
In writing this solo Renhai I took on the role two imaginary partners and actually worked through the seven steps of writing a renhai in yesterday's post (starting with "Distant waves shimmer" as the first line of the middle verse).
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8 comments:
glad you're showing this - I'm already ready for summer! It's cold tonight. :(
good work vaughn
john
Love that verse with the butterfly - such a vivid image it gives of difference in size.
Got everything except I did miss the land, water and air connection...
Andrew: Thanks. We're actually getting a bit of warm spell up here. :-)
John: Thank you.
Janice: Thanks. :-)
Great read! Especially in the context of man’s evolution! Traditionally, there’s the so called, cosmic tree of life, covering the whole of creation (Underworld, Earth, and Sky) – a most basic description of the universe… The ‘butterfly’ is the transformational energy at this basic level, forcing the perceivers of the world of forms to change their predominant perception and transcend it.
‘Distant waves shimmer’, in this context, refers to the endless flux of cosmic energy beyond all form, the Buddhist ‘emptiness’…
The ‘tiny speck’ represents the maturing, unified awareness of those who would like to attain to ‘ultimate reality’…
‘Blue sky…’ in the last verse describes the awareness of the ordinary man who has managed to let go of his little balloon of ordinary perceptions based on self-reflection…
Borut: Your analysis is absolutely amazing! It all makes sense from this philosophical perspective. It is all the more amazing in that it was written with none of that in mind, at least from this conscious mind. :-)
Interesting that you said you took the part of the two partners. I can see why that would be necessary to make it work. The theme really stands out and it all ties together so neatly, you can really move through the words in all directions and get something.
Jem: Thank you for your kind words.
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