by Sheng-yen Lu
GaiGai!
Today is a day of wind and rain. From early morning to night, it was all wailing wind and splattering rain. The whole day was wet and more wet.
The moon disappeared. The stars disappeared. Did they really disappear or were they hiding behind the wind and the rain?
At my home the “South Hill Residence,” I stood outside under the eaves of the front door and watched the pitch-blackness of the sky.
The elegant bright moon disappeared behind the dark clouds.
We can’t say that there is no moon tonight.
Even if the moon is behind the dark cloud, I would still talk to the moon.
I still remember the joke that goes like this:
I wrote your name in the clouds. The clouds became water and the water fell to the ground, and thus flowed away.
I wrote your name in the wind. The wind blew and blew, sometimes to the right and sometimes to the left, thus disappeared.
I wrote your name in the river. The water current rushed past, carrying it away.
I wrote your name on the electric pole. Then I got taken away by the environmentalists.
Ha, ha, ha!
I actually have carved your name into my heart. Your name would never fade. Nobody can take it away. My whole heart is filled with your name. No one would be able to crowd in.
That night, the rain became heavier and heavier. The night became mistier and mistier. The rain pitter-pattered off the skylight.
But, you, in my heart, are still bright beyond comparison.
GaiGai!
One day, you said to me, “I don’t feel secure!”
I said, “Relax! I will always protect you day and night or in the rain and wind. No matter how difficult the way is, through collapsing sky or splitting earth, I will always hold your hands!”
You said:
“Thank you!”
I said:
“This is the way it should be!”
It should be like this. This is not the first time or the second time. This is through many lifetimes and many rebirths. If not, how can we be this familiar, this natural, this devoted?
I found this out because of our vows. The vows for which I have no complaint and no regret!
I present to you a poem:
Adorable face in the rain
Adorable face in the wind
This is a kind of engagement
Entanglement
Just like the autumn smoke
Doesn’t matter if it’s the sun or the moon
Or another coming of the New Year
Clearly the delicate slender waist
Requires pity
You can be assured
I will always be by your side
In front or behind people
Ten fingers intertwined forever
