The Snowman by Wallace Stevens

One must have a mind of winter To regard the frost and the boughs Of the pine-trees crusted with snow; And have been cold a long time To behold the junipers shagged with ice, The spruces rough in the distant glitter Of the January sun; and not to think Of any misery in the sound of the wind, In the sound of a few leaves, Which is the sound of the land Full of the same wind That is blowing in the same bare place For the listener, who listens in the snow, And, nothing himself, beholds Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is. - Wallace Stevens "And, nothing himself, beholds Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is." These last two lines of Steven's poem reflect the essence of wisdom expressed in the classic Buddhist statement: "Form is Emptiness and Emptiness is Form" from The Heart of the Prajna Paramita Sutra. Click here for one translation of the Heart Sutra with commentaries. Thanks to George Day, Santa Cruz, CA, for sending me this poem.