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Monday, July 29, 2013

Richard Schiffman: "Moth Koan"


You say that you are troubled
by your own thoughts. Listen,
even the moth casts a shadow
when it flies before the sun.
Do you think the sun is troubled,
or the ground, or the moth,
for that matter? No, what is
troubled is the shadow thinking
it’s the moth that has fallen
to the ground, where the sun
will never shine again. The moth
that understands this
flies straight to the sun.



"Moth Koan" by Richard Schiffman. Published in Rattle, Winter 2011.

Photography credit: Unknown (originally color).



 

1 comment :

  1. I had to read about the spiritual meaning of the moth to arrive at an understanding of this poem. Now it is one of those to which I will return when my mind can't get past the shadow.

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