Poem: On Getting Bald
2007-03-19 03:15 PM | Posted by Tejvan Pettinger | Permanent Link | Poetry
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by Po Chu-Yi
At dawn I sighed to see my hairs fall;
At dusk I sighed to see my hairs fall.
For I dreaded the time when the last lock should go...
They are all gone and I do not mind at all!
I have done with that cumbrous washing and getting dry;
My tiresome comb is forever laid aside.
Best of all, when the weather is hot and wet,
To have no top-knot weighing down on one's head!
I put aside my messy clothy wrap;
I have got rid of my dusty tasselled fringe.
In a silver jar I have stored a cold stream,
On my bald pate I trickle a ladle full.
Like on baptized with the Water of Buddha's Law,
I sit and receive this cool, cleansing joy.
Now I know why the priest who seeks Repose
Frees his heart by first shaving his head
Translated by Arthur Malet.
Po Chu
Po Chu was a great Chinese poet. Like many contemporary Buddhist / Taoist poets he had a great sense of humour. The thing I like about this poem is that it embodies both humour but also wisdom. Why worry about nature's inevitability!
Po Chu took great delight in finding joy from the smallest of things.
Waiting in the South
Stream and rock
Resound together
Like a constant lute.
Even in idleness and sleep
Its quiet murmur
Washes my heart
Clean of the world's dust.
Don't overlook
Those twin rocks
Green with moss!
One night with their sound
Harmonizing the waters
Is worth to me
Ten thousand pieces of gold.
" Po Chu-I is above all the poet of human love and sorrow, and beyond all the consoler. Those who profess to find pessimism in the Chinese character must leave him alone. At the end of the great tragedy of "The Never-ending Wrong" a whispered message of hope is borne to the lonely soul beating against the confines of the visible world: -- "
- Po Chu selected Poems
- Chinese Poets at Poetseers.org