Because the Moon was Full
There was a Full Moon yesterday, which I celebrated by listening to several of the talks (you can find them here) given by Ajhan Sucitto at the month-long retreat going on right now at the Forest Refuge, in Barre, Mass. It’s a retreat I applied for, but didn’t get into. There are only 30 spaces at the Forest Refuge, so for popular retreats like this one, they hold a lottery to see who gets in. And I didn’t. But it’s OK, because I’m going to sit an 8-day retreat with him at IMS next April.
In further full-moon celebration, I offer this poem by W. S. Merwin:
Lunar Landscape
Nobody can tell you
anything new about
moonlight you have seen it
for yourself as many
times as necessary
nobody else ever saw
it as it appeared to you
you have heard all about it
but in the words of others
so that you fell asleep
it was photographed but
somewhere else and without
what was happening inside
its light and whenever it
was rhymed it disappeared
you cannot depend on
it use it for much send
it anywhere sell it
keep it for yourself bring
it back when it has left
and while it is lighting
the ocean like a name while
it is awake in the leaves
you do not need to look at it
to know it is not there