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"The
road is constantly deedless
and yet there is nothing, not being done"
The
title of the present book might be regarded as a
reference to Taoism and one could classify some of the
poems as yin and others as yang which, however, would be
a rather incomplete approach. The collection is in fact
one long poem, a lyrical meditation of the poet, who
visited the Far East more than fifty times and, amongst
others, rendered Chinese and Korean poetry.
"The Road" contains references to Greek
mythology, such as Pegasus, the winged horse with the
golden bridle, which created fountains with its hooves,
or to Nyx, goddess of the night and daughter of Chaos.
But the collection equally contains references to
Hinduism and to ZEN Buddhism, to the "Gateless
Gate" or imagined gate, barriers existing only
in the mind, which one has to cross to reach "The
Road". The majority of the poems were written
in India, which obviously has left traces in the
collection.
"The Road" can also be regarded as the road of
mankind: its past, its present and - its unpredictable -
future. But it is, more than anything else, the
road of the poet himself, a lyrical record of his
personal experience of various cultures, religions, and
philosophies, in which one will find Western thinking in
harmony with Oriental values put in their old, still up
to date, or new, contemporary context and experience.
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WHAT DID THE OLD PROPHETS see
but not describe
in the solitude
which sharpens the mind
-or makes it err?
Did
they hear a voice
unknown to us, experience a dream
granting awakening and certainty
firm as truth, as the word? |
DID THEIR
FINGERTIPS count
the veins of the leaves
did they read the lines
in the palm of eternity?
Did their myopic eyes
dissolve the darkness
did they recognise the signs, the dawn
in the face of the night? |
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PEGASUS
Who
broke the golden bridle
stole the horse?
Still there is water
at the well
but the hoofbeat dies away
without resounding. |
| GODDESS OF THE
NIGHT
Threatening,
as a beastly being
hangs darkness above the earth
what moon
brings us a glimpse of light
what sun
-which does not threaten
gives us a sign? |
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WHERE IS the greater
light
providing more lucidity
where is the seer, the prophet
who hands as bread the truth
pure, bright and profound
where is the guiding
star
which lightens in the dark
where is the secret
power
which draws from the stars
the timeless orbit
the cycle of the planets? |
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