Re: people who died (was Re: what to read (was Re: access t

randy royal (randyr@mailhub.jaxnet.com)
Sat, 18 Oct 1997 15:14:57 +0000 

i never really did mourn for him because it was around that time that 
i finished on the road, and knew very little about the beats. 
cya~ randy
> I'm still mourning the death of Allen Ginsburg, if you want to know the
> truth, will
> 

below is some readings i thought would apply.
                                
                                Three friends
                     from the way of Chuang Tzu
there were three friends
discussing life.
One said:
"Can men live together
And know nothing of it?
Work together
And produce nothing?
Can they fly around in space
And forget to exist
World without end?"
The three friends looked at each other
And burst out laughing.
They had no explanation.
Thus they were better friends then
  before .
Then one friend died.
Confucious
Sent a disciple to help the other two
Chant his obsequies.

The disciple found that one friend
Had composed a song.
While the other played a lute,
They sang:
       "Hey, Sung Hu!
        Where'd you go?
        Hey, Sung Hu!
        Where'd you go?
        You have gone
         Where you really were.
         And we are here-
         Damn it! We are here!"

Then the disciple of Confucius burst in 
    on them and 
Exclaimed: "May I inquire where you found this in the
Rubrics for obsequies,
This frivolous carolling in the presence of the departed?"

The two friends looked at each other and laugher:
"Poor fellow," they said, "he doesn't know the new liturgy!"
                
                              Lao Tzu's Wake
                           from the same book

Lao Tan lay dead
Chin Shih attended the wake.
He let out three yells
And went home.

One of his disciples said:
Were you not the Master's friend?
"Certainly," he replied.

Is it then sufficient for you
To mourn no better than you have just done?

                                       *       *      *      *     

"In the beginning," said Chin Shu, "I thought
He was the greatest of men.
No longer! When i came to mourn
I found old men lamenting him as their son,
Young men sobbing as though for their mother.
How did he bind them to himself so tight, if not
By words he should never said 
And tears he never should have wept?

"He weakened his true being,
He laid pn load upoun 
Load of emotion, increased
The enormous reckoning:
He forgot the gift God had entrusted to him:
This the ancients called 'punisnment
For neglecting the True Self.'

"The Master came at his tight time
Into the world. When his time was up,
He left it again.
He who awaits his time, who submits
When his work is done,
In his life there is no room for rejoicing.
Here is how the ancients said all this 
In four words:
            'God cuts the thread.'

"We have seen a fire of sticks
Burn out. The fire now
Burns in some other place. Where?
Who knows? These brands
Are burnt out."