If we allow silence to open up within, we shall see the gate and be free to open it. The gate that silence opens up within us leads to light. Light exposes us with an almost merciless radiance and, in the exposure, reveals the beauty of the real.
what falls away with ease.
Not only the heavy apple,
the pear,
but also the dried brown strands
of autumn iris from their core.
To let your body
love this world
that gave itself to your care
in all of its ripeness,
with ease,
and will take itself from you
in equal ripeness and ease,
is also harvest.
And however sharply
you are tested —
this sorrow, that great love —
it too will leave on that clean knife.