Interlinear Space: A Prelude

Calmly plant the heart with a thousand slim bamboos.

Calmly sprinkle from a pail of fresh water.

Calmly change to a creeping snail.

Calmly turn the heart to a teabowl.

If never born, how can you die?

If forever barefoot, why wear shoes?

If astride the sky, why set foot on earth?

If above the earth, why follow any path?

In fifty years, I’ll be who?

In a hundred, who’ll be me?

Stretch the tendons, flex the joints, renew, replace.

Hold one breath, live a lie.