Clocking on at the Sawmill
After a successful breakfast of flapjacks and black coffee
the Buddhist clocking on at the sawmill
250,000 board feet to cut and trim
the moon still bright in the sky
the sun rising
wearing his big red shirt
and his multicoloured coat of equanimity
understood or misunderstood
what I have not and never could.
He has in his mind the mountains
the towering clouds
I see them too
the wild haired sages dancing
although his own feet are not right in the stiff old boots.
The Horsehead Nebula slowing down, some say,
descending its discordant scales
has not anything at all to say for itself.
Daniel Richardson was born in April 1941 in Chicago, and grew up in Carmel, California during a time in which there seemed to be great optimism about the future in general and the future of the U.S.A. in particular. He studied mathematical logic at Bristol, and is currently working as a mathematical consultant. Stairwell Books (www.stairwellbooks.co.uk) have published Rhinocerous, a book of his short stories.