Worldly Matters

Spring morning on the lake:
the wind merges with the rain,
Worldly matters are like flowers that fall
only to bloom again.
I retire to contemplate behind closed doors,
a place of true joy,
While the floating clouds come and go
the whole day long.

~Zhengjue
12th Century Chinese Buddhist Nun

from the book, Daughters of Emptiness: Poems of Chinese Buddhist Nuns, by Beata Grant