Visiting

Unknown, Hsiang-chi Temple—

Miles and miles into cloud-draped peaks.

Among the old trees, a path no one travels,

A bell deep in the mountains but where from?

A brook gulps among protruding boulders,

And though the sun glows, it’s cool beneath the pines.

At dusk, by a bend in an empty pool,

Meditating quietly I rout the deadly dragon.

-Wang Wei (699 - 761 AD)