The agapeic origin is nothing but its giving to the other, but it is also more than any of its determinate gifts, and hence the heart of the agape is both poured forth into finitude and reserved in itself, reserved perhaps just to let the finite be as finite. G&B 127
green jades the mud paths / so it is true that You
are the giving of finitude / and nothing else is true
nothing but that about you / not light film on the pond
herringboned in the breeze / not the shadows beyond
where ducks sleep in the rocks / nothing but the gift
of being from your reserves / Lu sings as we drift
through the familiar muchness / call and response of crows
the colors of last year’s trash / caught in the bony beach rose
About Tom
Lately managing editor of Single Island Press, Portsmouth, Thomas D’Evelyn (PhD comparative literature, University of California, Berkeley) has had a long career in editing, teaching, and writing. While in graduate school he taught 8th and 9th grade at The Academy, a private school in Berkeley California. After Berkeley, he was books editor of The Christian Science Monitor in the 1980s. In the 90’s, he worked in two positions in publishing: as general humanities acquisitions editor at Harvard University Press, and as managing editor at Boston University. Meanwhile, he ran a book agency, publishing works in sociology, history, and literature. Since the 90s, he’s been deeply involved in adult continuing education, both at Brown University and as a private consultant. He now works out of his home in Portsmouth, NH. He blogs at http://tomdevelyn.info/
Once again there’s a tranquillity in your lines, and a comfortable rhythm, like rocking a child or sitting in a rocking chair. I don’t know who Lu was, but I think I can hear him singing …
For a moment I had to puzzle out the first half of line 3, and I wonder whether the slash is in the best place; might it be clearer if you placed it between “you” and “not light film”?
But that tiny query aside, the reader can follow the argument clearly. And I greatly enjoyed telling details such as “green jades the mud paths” – that’s unexpected, but entirely appropriate, so this image opens the poem and its argument cleverly – and the “colors of last year’s trash” caught in the bony beach rose.
That’s a neat juxtaposition and a strong finish.
you are right about the slash! I was pleased to learn from the great book on Chinese ecology The Retreat of the Elephants by Mark Elvin that my ways of imitating Chinese verse are an improvement on the Anglo-phone tradition, down from Arthur Waley, even the slashes and rhymes (though most would demur there, such is the drag of the modern tradition)!
Anyway, thanks for the very insightful comments; it’s so good to hear that the argument is not that hard to follow. “Jade” was a revision and I’m glad you like it. I’m slaving away this afternoon on #89, Wed being the cut-off date for changes, since I’ve got to get it out of my head so I go empty-headed into the weekend. You can always find my poets — e.g. “Lu” — in David Hinton’s Classic Chinese Poetry. Last Sunday I finished the cycle again so this weekend I will start again at the beginning.