No More Learning

But upon whom I call in my sleep I know not.

* * * * * * * * *

Here I sit between my brother the mountain and my sister the sea.
We three are one in loneliness, and the love that binds us together
is deep and strong and strange.





Said a Blade of Grass




Said a blade of grass to an autumn leaf, "You make such a noise
falling! You scatter all my winter dreams. "

Said the leaf indignant, "Low-born and low-dwelling! Songless,
peevish thing! You live not in the upper air and you cannot tell
the sound of singing. "

Then the autumn leaf lay down upon the earth and slept. And when
spring came she waked again--and she was a blade of grass.

And when it was autumn and her winter sleep was upon her, and
above her through all the air the leaves were falling, she muttered
to herself, "O these autumn leaves! They make such noise! They
scatter all my winter dreams. "





The Eye




Said the Eye one day, "I see beyond these valleys a mountain veiled
with blue mist. Is it not beautiful?
"

The Ear listened, and after listening intently awhile, said, "But
where is any mountain? I do not hear it. "

Then the Hand spoke and said, "I am trying in vain to feel it or
touch it, and I can find no mountain. "

And the Nose said, "There is no mountain, I cannot smell it. "

Then the Eye turned the other way, and they all began to talk together
about the Eye's strange delusion. And they said, "Something must
be the matter with the Eye. "





The Two Learned Men




Once there lived in the ancient city of Afkar two learned men who
hated and belittled each other's learning. For one of them denied
the existence of the gods and the other was a believer.

One day the two met in the marketplace, and amidst their followers
they began to dispute and to argue about the existence or the
non-existence of the gods. And after hours of contention they
parted.

That evening the unbeliever went to the temple and prostrated himself
before the altar and prayed the gods to forgive his wayward past.

And the same hour the other learned man, he who had upheld the
gods, burned his sacred books. For he had become an unbeliever.





When My Sorrow Was Born




When my Sorrow was born I nursed it with care, and watched over it
with loving tenderness.

And my Sorrow grew like all living things, strong and beautiful
and full of wondrous delights.

And we loved one another, my Sorrow and I, and we loved the world
about us; for Sorrow had a kindly heart and mine was kindly with
Sorrow.