Reading the Analects

LUNYU 1X.12 Zi Gong said: 'There is a beautiful gem here. Should I lay it up in a case and keep it or should I seek for a good price and sell it?' The Master said: 'Sell it! Sell it! But I would wait for one to offer the price.'

Swiftly the wild cherry branch flies back.
Yan Hui's sighs rise to fill the cold night air.
No phoenix here, no chart from the river.
The things I seek are all too far removed,
borne on the bird's wing upward
beyond the confines of this familiar place.

How should I treat the precious jewel?
This thought rises too in the cold night air,
condensing into temporary substance.
Blossoms of the wild cherry so soon
fall under autumn's duress
as these thoughts also fall.

Why speak of profit, fate or goodness?
Why guard the jewel and, like Chang Lu,
preserve its value while the self decays?
Most certainly sell it, as the Master says,
but do not wait an offer.
Time is short.

© Ian Johnston