2012 Buddha Root Farm Retreat Snapshots
8/12/2012 ~ 8/17/2012
David Rounds wrote and shared the following poem at the end of the retreat
Remembering Turtle Mountain, August 2012
(With apologies to William Wordsworth)
O sylvan stream
How often have our thoughts returned to you
When the fever of the world has closed in upon us
How often have our spirits turned to you!
We bounded like the deer over the mountains
The sounding waterfall haunted us
For nature to us was all in all
And brought us to that blessed mood
In which the burden of the mystery
Of all this unintelligible world was lightened.
For me the hour has passed
When I looked with the eyes of youth
Now in nature I always hear
The still sad music of humanity
But I also feel a presence that disturbs me
With the joy of elevated thoughts
A sense sublime of something far more deeply interfused
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns
And the round ocean
And the living air
A motion and a stillness that impel all thought
That roll through the minds of sentient beings
That sustain the Dharma Realm.
We elders see in you, young friends, what once we were
When we too strode like elk over the meadows
And in you we hear the language of our former thoughts
And see our fire that burns in your wild eyes
For nature never did betray the hearts that loved her
Therefore, all who've gathered here on Turtle Mountain
If ever pain or grief or solitude should be your portion
Then with healing thoughts of Dharma joy
May you recall this day.
Now may the moon shine upon us
May the misty mountain winds blow against us
And may our memories be a dwelling place
For sweet sounds and harmonies
And we will not forget
That on the banks of this fair river
We lived the Dharma together.
(With apologies to William Wordsworth)
O sylvan stream
How often have our thoughts returned to you
When the fever of the world has closed in upon us
How often have our spirits turned to you!
We bounded like the deer over the mountains
The sounding waterfall haunted us
For nature to us was all in all
And brought us to that blessed mood
In which the burden of the mystery
Of all this unintelligible world was lightened.
For me the hour has passed
When I looked with the eyes of youth
Now in nature I always hear
The still sad music of humanity
But I also feel a presence that disturbs me
With the joy of elevated thoughts
A sense sublime of something far more deeply interfused
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns
And the round ocean
And the living air
A motion and a stillness that impel all thought
That roll through the minds of sentient beings
That sustain the Dharma Realm.
We elders see in you, young friends, what once we were
When we too strode like elk over the meadows
And in you we hear the language of our former thoughts
And see our fire that burns in your wild eyes
For nature never did betray the hearts that loved her
Therefore, all who've gathered here on Turtle Mountain
If ever pain or grief or solitude should be your portion
Then with healing thoughts of Dharma joy
May you recall this day.
Now may the moon shine upon us
May the misty mountain winds blow against us
And may our memories be a dwelling place
For sweet sounds and harmonies
And we will not forget
That on the banks of this fair river
We lived the Dharma together.