1
Climbing west toward Incense-Burner Peak,
I look south and see a falls of water, a cascade
hanging there, three thousand feet high,
then seething dozens of miles down canyons.
Sudden as lightning breaking into flight,
its white rainbow of mystery appears. Afraid
at first the celestial Star River is falling,
splitting and dissolving into cloud heavens,
I look up into force churning in strength,
all power, the very workings of Creation.
It keeps ocean winds blowing ceaselessly,
shines a mountain moon back into empty space,
empty space it tumbles and sprays through,
rinsing green cliffs clean on both sides,
sending pearls in flight scattering into mist
and whitewater seething down towering rock.
Here, after wandering among these renowned
mountains, the heart grows rich with repose.
Why talk of cleansing elixirs of immortality?
Here, the world’s dust rinsed from my face,
I’ll stay close to what I’ve always loved,
content to leave that peopled world forever.
2
Sunlight on Incense-Burner kindles violet smoke.
Watching the distant falls hang there, river
headwaters plummeting three thousand feet in flight,
I see Star River falling through nine heavens.