Disciple

 

When must I leave you he asked his teacher

 

meaning—must I ever?  Oh, when you know much

 

much less.  He asked other questions being

 

answered by a silence so

 

perfect that the forest sounds dropped

 

through it.  To meditate above the river, that

 

was easy, but when he came closer, thirst

 

crouched before him on the bank, and

 

drank.  Then a face was spread out on the

 

water: bearded and wild, it appeared

 

to be himself.  What is pictured on the river

 

must flow past, he said, Can I let the

 

whole thing go?  I will stand here trying,

 

where the forces meet; I will wait here

 

silent, though roots grow down from my feet.