IN THE WILDERNESS

  

When rambling in the East one day,

Conducted by a gentle breeze,

Yun Kiang espied Hung Mung, amazed,

Because the latter hopped and played,

Slapping his buttocks with such glee.

 

“O tell me, sir, just who are you?

Why are you doing this?” he cried.

Hung Mung looked up and answered, “Pooh!”

Yun Kiang said, “Is there gospel truth

Your antics have from me disguised?

 

“You see, I long to seize the Wind,

And harmonize the basic Six—

The Darkness, Light, the Yang, the Yin,

And Rain—all in myself to blend.

Don’t tease me with fantastic tricks!”

 

“I do not know! I do not know!”

Hung Mung just shook his head and sprang

Away into the reeds that blow

With harmonies of Rain that flow

In Light and Darkness, Yin and Yang.

 

Years afterward, when yet once more

Yun Kiang was rambling in the East,

Hung Mung he noticed as before,

And hastened to be taught his lore,

And laid his head down at his feet.

 

“O Heaven, do remember me!

Have you forgotten, Heaven?”

Hung Mung said, “Wandering listlessly,

I know not where or what I seek—

But you aspire to govern Man.”

 

Yun Kiang replied, “I too am tossed

About by aimless influence,

And yet the People follow close

Upon my heels; and since they press

About me, shall I lead them hence?”

 

“Do so, and you will be their bane!

Do nothing, and the world will be

Well guided, as you hold the reins

Preventing men from seeking gain

Beyond what their best Good beseems.”

 

“And what, O Heaven, is that Good?”

The Recluse answered, “Empty minds

And weakened wills; sufficient food;

The dearth of knowledge; being trued

To Nature’s stillness, and resigned.”

 

Yun Kiang said, “Heaven, you have taught

The meaning of your Way to one

Who all his life for it has sought—

Who now within its net is caught!”

He bowed twice to him, and was gone.