Gathering firewood I enter mountain depths

Today's Daily Zen:


Gathering firewood I enter mountain depths,
Mountain depths rising creek beyond creek
Choked with the timbers of bridges in ruin.
Vines tumble low, tangled over cragged paths,
And at dusk, scarce people grow scarcer still.
Mountain wind sweeping through simple robes,
My chant steady, I shoulder a light bundle,
Watch smoke drift across open country home.

- Meng Hao-jan (689-740 C.E.)