Deer Park
© 2008
BASID #788
Beth Ames Swartz
Deer Park
acrylic and mixed media on canvas
72" x 48" (1.83m x 1.22m)
2008
王維
(Wang Wei, 701–761 a.c.e.,
Chinese)
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鹿柴
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(Deer Park)*
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空山不見人
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Empty mountains:
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no one to be
seen.
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但聞人語響
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Yet—hear—
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human sounds and
echoes.
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返景入深林
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Returning
sunlight
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enters the dark
woods;
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復照青苔上
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Again shining
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on the green moss, above.
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Gary Snyder, 1978
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En la Ermita del Parque de los
Venados
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In the Deer Park Hermitage
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No se ve gente en este monte,
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No people are
seen on this mountain,
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sólo se oyen, lejos, voces.
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Only voices,
far-off, are heard.
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Bosque profundo. Luz poniente:
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Deep forest.
Western light:
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alumbra el musgo y, verde, asciende.
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It illuminates the moss and,
green, rises.
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Octavio Paz, 1978**
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* The
Chinese title of the poem, Lu zhai,
is a place-name. It probably alludes to Deer Park in Sarnath (in Uttar Pradesh,
India.), where the Gautama Buddha preached his first sermon.
** At least
twenty-four English translations exist of this elusive and allusive poem by a
major Tang poet whose poetry speaks of the Buddhist and Taoist ideals of
retreat and life amidst nature.
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