eighty thousand poems

I learned from Cuttlefish that this is US National Poetry Month. Coincidentally, I just came across a lovely poem (set aside the religion) by the garden designer Musō Soseki (1275-1351). It was recited in “Dream Window: Reflections on the Japanese Garden” on the Smithsonian Channel, which I also loved.

The sounds of the stream
splash out
the Buddha’s sermon

Don’t say
that the deepest meaning
comes only from one’s mouth

Day and night
eighty thousand poems
arise one after the other

and in fact
not a single word
has ever been spoken