When people look for the road in the clouds
The cloud road disappears
The mountains are tall and steep
The streams are wide and still
Green mountains ahead and behind
White clouds to east and west
If you want to find the cloud road
Seek it within
~Han Shan
ed. note: Hanshan (寒山; 'Cold Mountain' 9th century) Little is known of his work, since he was a recluse living in a remote region of China and his poems were written on rocks in the mountains he called home. In the introduction to his translation of Han-shan's poems, Burton Watson writes, “If the reader wishes to know the biography of Han-shan, he must deduce it from the poems themselves.”
photos: Mt. Horaiji
鳳来寺山
Aichi Prefecture, Japan
(c) bruce behnke 2019