“How does the true man of Tao

       Walk through walls without obstruction,

        Stand in fire without being burnt?”

                         The Way of Chuang Tzu

                                            I have become the fragile ink stick

                                                                        the smooth ink stone

                                                                        the ink

                                            I have become the bamboo brush

                                                                        the roll of delicate

                                                                        rice paper

                                            Let the brush lead you, the master said

                                            I have become the brush – no master

                                                                        can pluck it from

                                                                        my fingers

                                            And now at last (at once)

                                                                        I have become the

                                                                        brush stroke

                                            Ink and paper, mind and motion

                                                                        fused in pattern which

                                                                        when complete

                                            Is oh so suddenly consumed in flame

                                                                        I am

                                                                        become

                                                                        the flame

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[Appeared first in America, 1988]