✨ [I built my hut]
A heart that is distant...
I built my hut in a zone of human habitation,
Yet near me there sounds no noise of horse or coach.
Would you know how that is possible?
A heart that is distant creates a wilderness round it.
I pluck chrysanthemums under the eastern hedge,
Then gaze long at the distant summer hills.
The mountain air is fresh at the dusk of day:
The flying birds two by two return.
In these things there lies a deep meaning;
Yet when we would express it, words suddenly fail us.
—T’ao Ch’ien, trans. Arthur Waley
“[i built my hut]” is from A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems, 1918. Public domain. Photo by Kira Porotikova, Creative Commons, via Unsplash.
"A heart that is distant creates a wilderness round it."
Sadly, I can testify to the truth of this line: often in the past when I was hurt emotionally, I would curl inside myself (for protection from further injury - ?) which just proved to isolate me from others. I am learning to reach out for support and encouragement.