from Gary Snyder [a poem]

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A life spent seeking it
Like a worm in the earth,
Like a hawk. Catching threads
Sketching bones
Guessing where the road goes.
Lao-tzu says
To forget what you knew is best.
That's what I want:
To get these sights down,
Clear, right to the place
Where they fade
Back into the mind of my times.
The same old circuitry
But some paths color-coded
Empty
And we're free to go.

This memorable poem of Gary Snyder's, found in his book Left Out In the Rain: New Poems 1947-1985 (North Point Press, 1986), was called to mind when reading Archana Dorge's "Threaded" on her blog Perpetual Melody.