HUNGER MOUNTAIN

The eye is a mirror-vessel
Light-years deep
Through which the spatiality
Of the Cosmos looks out
At itself.

In such moments of
Crystalline Lucidity
David Hinton considers 
This phenomenon
As he walks the Mountain. 

His understanding unfolds
Through the Wormhole
Of Archaic Chinese poems
Ink-brushed in the Rhythm
Of the Cosmic dance.

Arranged in line and verse  
Their Graphs speak 
Of Empty Awareness.
The Way of the Ancients:
Of Void and Presence. 

.The Poets’ spare lines
A Reweaving
Of Materiality and Spirituality
Within a Consciousness reflecting
All Heaven and Earth. 

In moonlight, or pale glow 
Of dawn, he reenacts 
This subtle Cosmic purpose
Walking in the Silence
Of his local mountain. 

Hunger Mountain
A Field Guide to Mind and Landscape
David Hinton, Shambhala, 2012.