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Deep into that darkness peering,
Long I stood there, wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals
Ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken,
And the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken
Was the whispered word, "Lenore!"
This I whispered, and an echo
Murmured back the word, "Lenore!"
Merely this, and nothing more.

The Raven
by Edgar Allen Poe

@ghost-of-a-duke said
Deep into that darkness peering,
Long I stood there, wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals
Ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken,
And the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken
Was the whispered word, "Lenore!"
This I whispered, and an echo
Murmured back the word, "Lenore!"
Merely this, and nothing more.

The Raven
by Edgar Allen Poe

When suddenly mind and environment
are both forgotten,
there is the ability
to penetrate freely earth,
mountains and rivers.
The whole substance of the real body
of the king of Dharma is manifest;
people these days face it without knowing it.

~ Daio (1235-1309)

What does the old master do here?

By the side of the rock

He is hunting for a new verse.

Suddenly a cool breeze

Blows from the pine trees;

Silently and quietly it

Purifies spirit and thought.

~ Shih t’ao (1641–1717)

What on Earth are you doing, God?
Is this some sort of joke you're playing?
Is it cause we didn't pray?
Well I can't see the point of the word without the action
Are you just hot air, breathing over us and over all?
Is it fun watching us all?
Where's your son? We want him again!

And next time you send your boy down here
Give him a wife and a sexy daughter
Someone we can understand
Who's got some ideas we can use, really relate to
We've all read your rules, tried them
Learnt them in school, then tried them
They're impossible rules, and you've made us look fools
Well done, God, but now please...

Don't hunt me down, for Heaven's sake!
You know that I'm only joking, aren't I?
Pardon me I'm very drunk!
But I know what I'm trying to say, and it's nearly night time
And we're still alone, waiting for something unknown, still waiting
So throw down a stone, or something!
Give us a sign, for Christ's sake!

~ Robert Wyatt

YouTube

For food pure air,
For house white clouds,
For carriage clear winds,
For lantern a bright moon.
Honors, wealth and mundane things
Valued by most people
To the wise monk or nun
Are not worth a glance.

~ Hua-shan chih

Emptiness is a name for nothingness,
A name for ungraspibility,
A name for mountains, rivers, the whole earth.
It is also called the real form.
In the green of the pines,
The twist of the brambles,
There is no going and coming;
In the red of the flowers
And the white of the snow,
There is no birth and no death.

~ Ryusai

This old monk meditates and
Rests in the empty mountains
In loneliness and stillness
Through the days and nights.
When I leave the pure cliffs,
I am distracted by callers
The world of people is first
And always the world of people.

~ Seigan Soi (1588-1661)

In the night the bells of the mountain temple
Are swung by the wind from the pines.
From my bed of stone by the wintry lamp
I can hear the flowering rain of Buddha.

~ Wang Wen-lu