Watching the moon at dawn
solitary, mid-sky
I knew myself completely
no part left out.
Izumi Shikibu, Japanese poet
“I love this poem because it suggests that you can’t know yourself completely until you include all parts. I’m not going to be able to say something like Shikibu said, ‘I know myself completely’, until I’m willing to look at and be in a relationship with the doubt, the despair, the confusion, the hatred, all the sordid guests that come knocking at this guest house as Rumi called it.”
Andrew Forsthoefel, author of
Walking to Listen:4,000 Miles Across America One Story at a Time
