3 Meditations on Chapter 15 of the Dao De Jing

3 Meditations on Chapter 15

of the Dao De Jing

 

1.

I recognize I am dreaming:

 

Quietly, like crossing the bedroom in darkness

Attentively, like counting my change

Politely, like hugging good-bye

Expressively, like water boils to steam

Sweetly, like the surprise of foraged berries

Willingly, like a wide-open sky

Uncertainly, as seen at a far distance

 

2.

I follow an imagined path:

 

Prudently, like harvesting tomatoes before a storm

Vigilantly, like listening to the wind howl at night

Ceremonially, like toasting wine before sipping

Concedingly, like a branch about to break

Innately, like a cat flicking its tail

Unobstructedly, as conversation in dreams

Devotedly, as taking off my shoes at the door

 

3.

I am pulled to a destination:

 

Warily, like arriving in an unknown city

Briskly, like passing a group of men drinking idly

Reverently, like singing birds before sunrise

Givingly, like a hatching egg

Frankly, as ice forms on house eaves

Finitely, as fiddleheads of hay-scented ferns unspiral

Openly, like hiking out of the valley to a view