Old Teacher
Lao Tzu wants to go;
he has had enough and he wants to go
to the mountains and to solitude
but they will not let him go
he arrives at the gates
and the gatekeeper says:
*“Old Teacher,
you cannot go;
write all you know
then you can go”*
“If I write,”
says Lao Tzu,
*“you will make a text of it
though the description is never the thing”*
and the gatekeeper says again :
*“Old Teacher,
you cannot go;
write all you know
then you can go”*
and Lao Tzu writes
so he can go;
and we have all these texts in the world
and cling on to words, words, words
thinking the description is the thing
Oct 7, 2010
Oct 7, 2010 at 12:51 AM UTC
Old Teacher
Lao Tzu wants to go;
he has had enough and he wants to go
to the mountains and to solitude
but they will not let him go
he arrives at the gates
and the gatekeeper says:
*“Old Teacher,
you cannot go;
write all you know
then you can go”*
“If I write,”
says Lao Tzu,
*“you will make a text of it
though the description is never the thing”*
and the gatekeeper says again :
*“Old Teacher,
you cannot go;
write all you know
then you can go”*
and Lao Tzu writes
so he can go;
and we have all these texts in the world
and cling on to words, words, words
thinking the description is the thing
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