Saying Farewell at the Monastery after Hearing the Old Master Lecture on “Return to the Source”

At the last turn in the path
          “goodbye—”
          —bending, bowing,
       (moss and a bit of
          wild
             bird-)
down.
Daitoku-ji Monastery

Copyright Credit: Gary Snyder, "Saying Farewell at the Monastery after Hearing the Old Master Lecture on 'Return to the Source'" from Left Out in the Rain:New Poems 1947-1985. Copyright © 2005 by Gary Snyder.  Reprinted by permission of Counterpoint Press.
Source: No Nature: New and Selected Poems (Counterpoint Press, 1992)