Destruction

by Shinkichi Takahashi

English version by Lucien Stryk and Takashi Ikemoto
Original Language Japanese

The universe is forever falling apart --
No need to push the button,
It collapses at a finger's touch:
Why, it barely hangs on the tail of a sparrow's eye.

The universe is so much eye secretion,
Hordes leap from the tips
Of your nostril hairs. Lift your right hand:
It's in your palm. There's room enough
On the sparrow's eyelash for the whole.

A paltry thing, the universe:
Here is all the strength, here the greatest strength.
You and the sparrow are one
And, should he wish, he can crush you.
The universe trembles before him.

-- from Zen Poetry: Let the Spring Breeze Enter, Translated by Lucien Stryk / Translated by Takashi Ikemoto

<<Previous Poem | More Poems by Shinkichi Takahashi | Next Poem >>


View All Poems by Shinkichi Takahashi



Recommended Books: Shinkichi Takahashi

Zen Poetry: Let the Spring Breeze Enter Triumph of the Sparrow: Zen Poems of Shinkichi Takahashi Afterimages: Zen Poems of Shinkichi Takahashi



Destruction