Flowers just Flowers

THE KEEPER OF SHEEP ( section 24 ,13th March, 1914 )     

By Fernando Pessoa

What we see of things are the things,

Why would we see one thing when another thing is there?
Why would seeing and hearing be to delude  ourselves
When seeing and hearing are seeing and hearing?

What matters is to know how to see,
To know how to see without thinking,
To know how to see when seeing
And not think when seeing
Nor see when thinking

But this
( if only we didn't have a dressed-up heart ! )-----
This requires deep study,
Lessons in unlearning,
And a retreat into the freedom of that convent
Where the stars -- say poets -- are the eternal nuns
And the flowers the contrite believers of just one day,
But where after all the stars are just stars
And the flowers just flowers,
Which is why we call them stars and flowers

PS :  昨天往中環畢打行高古軒畫廊看 Cy Twombly 晚年遺作系列＂The Last Paintings " 在場內看到一本設計簡潔的文字書，很薄的一冊兩本，由不同人（ 當然不是普通人 ）為紀念 Cy 而寫的文章，由紐約 MOMA 出版，只得一本，放在 information 枱上展示著。在其中的一段文章中找到這首詩，形容 Cy 作畫的心態或境界。如中國的禪說------參禪之初：看山是山，看水是水﹔對禪有悟時： 看山不是山，看水不是水﹔在禪中徹悟時： 看山還是山，看水還是水。最後期的山山水水比起早期看到的山水卻是另一番境界！