Similar to our emotions, the weather moves through quickly like a cloudburst. When we pay attention and grow mindful, we sense changes around us and ones further away.
I sense Wang Wei proposes a there are benefits that occur in occasional changes in our immediate surroundings. Those changes mute distant sounds and other stimuli that intrude. Whether it is outside or inside us, the impending storm signals we need to find shelter and take stock of what is happening.
Perhaps through our questions and wonder we awaken and become aware of the world. What happens further downstream from us? What is happening out at sea? What do our emotions mean to the immediate world and the larger world we experience and share? What does it mean to lead, teach, and learn in this world?
In this quick cloudburst
air thickens, the sky comes down
dark mountains
flashes of lightning
out at sea new clouds
have just started to form
and this small brook I straddle
is a river in flood somewhere
rags and blankets of mist
hang on these slopes and cliffs
then the clouds open and vanish
rain patters off
and moonlight silvers
that whole reach of river
foothills to ocean
and even from this black mountain
I can hear boatmen singing.
