Poetry Chaikhana Blog

Full Moon Festival
by Thich Nhat Hanh

What will happen when form collides with emptiness,
and what will happen when perception enters non-perception?
Come here with me, friend.
Let’s watch together.
Do you see the two clowns, life and death
setting up a play on a stage?
Here comes Autumn.
The leaves are ripe.
Let the leaves fly.
A festival of colors, yellow, red.
The branches have held on to the leaves
during Spring and Summer.
This morning they let them go.
Flags and lanterns are displayed.
Everyone is here at the Full Moon Festival.

Friend, what are you waiting for?
The bright moon shines above us.
There are no clouds tonight.
Why bother to ask about lamps and fire?
Why talk about cooking dinner?
Who is searching and who is finding?
Let us just enjoy the moon, all night.

— from Call Me by My True Names: The Collected Poems of Thich Nhat Hanh, by Thich Nhat Hanh

/ Image by Erik McIean /

For those in the Southern Hemisphere, it is the beginning of autumn — and it is a full moon…

What really drew me to this poem was its contemplation of a serene Buddhist idea of emptiness. I have always loved that quality of autumn, after the boisterous life of spring and summer, we get that glorious last shock of colors and cool temperatures as things quiet down and we begin to turn inward. It is a celebration of emptiness, but not bleakness or hopelessness. It is precisely in that emptiness that we experience a renewed but sublimated sort of life, a hidden expansiveness. In that sleepy season we become more awake and aware.

A few days ago I was on a walk. The day’s breeze had worked itself up to a full bluster. Wrapped up, I set out. On my walk I encountered a family with two children flying kites. That’s an unusual sight these days, so it caught my attention. I watched as the father helped the children get their kites aloft, holding up each kite in turn to catch the wind and pull taut against the string, then slowly playing its way up higher as they let out the string.

Watching this, while thoughts of war ran through the recesses of my thoughts, I saw the flight of these kites as a metaphor for how to navigate the uncertain world during these dangerous days. The kite, like the Zen master, works with what is, yielding, opening itself, gossamer thin, to the chaos swirling all around it. When all else is battered about, it soars.

Not through force of will, but through its inherent emptiness, it rides those powerful, unpredictable currents. It rises, it dances amidst the turmoil.

Friend, what are you waiting for?
The bright moon shines above us.

Recommended Books: Thich Nhat Hanh

Call Me by My True Names: The Collected Poems of Thich Nhat Hanh	The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching: Transforming Suffering Into Peace, Joy & Liberation

Thich Nhat Hanh Vietnam/France/US (1926 – 2022) Timeline Buddhist : Zen / Chan

More poetry by Thich Nhat Hanh

When things feel chaotic or in collapse,
find the underlying currents
and flow with them.
We must learn to surf the apocalypse.

At the Un-National Monument along the Canadian Border
by William Stafford

This is the field where the battle did not happen,
where the unknown soldier did not die.
This is the field where grass joined hands,
where no monument stands,
and the only heroic thing is the sky.

Birds fly here without any sound,
unfolding their wings across the open.
No people killed — or were killed — on this ground
hallowed by neglect and an air so tame
that people celebrate it by forgetting its name.

— from The Way It Is: New & Selected Poems, by William Stafford

/ Image by Jeff King /

In the midst of the world’s travails, a moment of calm, a monument to the non-event, the non-war…

Read this poem aloud so you don’t miss its delightful rhyme:

where the unknown soldier did not die…
and the only heroic thing is the sky.

Birds fly here without any sound…
No people killed — or were killed — on this ground

I especially love the closing couplet:

hallowed by neglect and an air so tame
that people celebrate it by forgetting its name.

Be well. Remember that, despite the news, despite the many uncertainties, that the living world still awaits outside your door. Step out into it. Say hello to the people you meet… and the happily neglected fields with their heroic skies. Have a beautiful day.

Recommended Books: William Stafford

The Way It Is: New & Selected Poems	My Name is William Tell	Even in Quiet Places	The Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness, and Joy	Dancing with Joy: 99 Poems
More Books >>

William Stafford US (1914 – 1993) Timeline Secular or Eclectic

More poetry by William Stafford

Seeking sunlight the sapling
reaches out for that golden touch.
In time the tree
becomes the pathway of its own seeking.

I am honored to have been included in the new poetry anthology nameless: a riff of 44 images complemented by poetry, by Rashani Réa & Six Contemporary Poets. This is a delightful collection collage art by Rashani Réa, accompanied by haiku and short poems by six poets, yours truly included. One of mine from the book:

chance meeting
were we ever apart
my many selves and i?

A lovely book to sit down with and read at any page.

You can support Rashani Réa’s work by purchasing a copy through Amazon:
click here.