PROMPT 65: Air "Four Element - Air- Third Stanza" by clockworkchaos
Title: Four Element - Air- Third Stanza
Author: clockworkchaos
Rating: K
Words: 256
Genre: Poetry
Char/Pair: -
Warning: Poetry
Summary: Section of Tsu-Soon Ertou's famous poem 'four elements'. Air section, third Stanza.
Four Elements
Air
III
Autumn begins the end
And through the end we are reborn
When the days shorten the wind blows
And leaves are freed from the bonds
Said the first Abbot
Be like the leaf, not the tree
This is the lesson of air.
Where is the leaf when the wind is gone?
Grounded, lifeless, unfree.
The wind is gone.
What does that say of freedom?
Paradox is the lesson of the Abbess.
Love, but do not attach.
Explore, but do not stay.
Question, but avoid heresy.
Many have sought to answer the teaching.
Glory the Fire Nation can claim.
For they have answered the Koans.
The sound of one hand clapping
Is a slap.
What is Avatar?
Ash and ghosts and stories.
Those who thought they were free.
Were trapped.
On the road when the find the Avatar
They will kill the avatar.
Look upon the walls of Ba Sing Se.
Look upon its people divided.
So chide the monks of air.
In their temples above the world
People should not be divided.
Now let us all be detached.
A perfect Koan.
Gone are the Koans
The answer, mere ash.
There are no temples now.
The prayer wheels are still.
The statues broken.
The chanting is silence.
Here is no temple. Here is a grave.
The smell of soot and dust suspended.
Here lies only the hungry ghosts
Of men unsent.
Can spirits roam when the wind is gone.
Can the pass on, without prayer?
The wind is gone.
Is freedom as well?
Author: clockworkchaos
Rating: K
Words: 256
Genre: Poetry
Char/Pair: -
Warning: Poetry
Summary: Section of Tsu-Soon Ertou's famous poem 'four elements'. Air section, third Stanza.
Four Elements
Air
III
Autumn begins the end
And through the end we are reborn
When the days shorten the wind blows
And leaves are freed from the bonds
Said the first Abbot
Be like the leaf, not the tree
This is the lesson of air.
Where is the leaf when the wind is gone?
Grounded, lifeless, unfree.
The wind is gone.
What does that say of freedom?
Paradox is the lesson of the Abbess.
Love, but do not attach.
Explore, but do not stay.
Question, but avoid heresy.
Many have sought to answer the teaching.
Glory the Fire Nation can claim.
For they have answered the Koans.
The sound of one hand clapping
Is a slap.
What is Avatar?
Ash and ghosts and stories.
Those who thought they were free.
Were trapped.
On the road when the find the Avatar
They will kill the avatar.
Look upon the walls of Ba Sing Se.
Look upon its people divided.
So chide the monks of air.
In their temples above the world
People should not be divided.
Now let us all be detached.
A perfect Koan.
Gone are the Koans
The answer, mere ash.
There are no temples now.
The prayer wheels are still.
The statues broken.
The chanting is silence.
Here is no temple. Here is a grave.
The smell of soot and dust suspended.
Here lies only the hungry ghosts
Of men unsent.
Can spirits roam when the wind is gone.
Can the pass on, without prayer?
The wind is gone.
Is freedom as well?