## II.

0 - what a picture of a mountain !
in our desolation ,
four times, four seasons

marched up from the valley ,
each with its retinue and panoply,
each climbed the mountain slowly :

though the mountain changed its colour
as the seasons came and went,
she did not alter .

ANCIENT WISDOM SPEAKS

For April 14, 1943

I

Where you are,
your cloak is blue as the robes
the priests of Tibet wear:

where you are,
you stare and stare at a mountain
and a picture of a mountain in the water:

and when the river is half frozen over,
still you stand,
snow on your sleeve and hood:

still you stand waiting,
not forgetting;
where were we now

if you had not said over and over,
as you watched the snow
slide down the runnels

and become, below on the slopes,
blossom of apple, quince and the wild-pear,
repeatedly, this prayer:

remember these (you said)
who when the earth-quake shook their city,
when angry blast and fire

ANCIENT WISDOM SPEAKS

For April 14, 1943

I

and become, below on the slopes,
blossom of apple, quince and the wild-pear,
repeated, this prayer: