As in a dream, I climbed the wooded mountain at Yamadera, where Basho, the haiku poet, made a pilgrimage to the gods centuries ago. I went up the leafy winding path, thinking to compose an offering to the Master. The crimson universe of spring filtered down among the giant cedars, while far below, mist-tinted in stillness, lay the rice-fields, not yet flooded for planting. Then a skylark sang, like an echo out of the past; and it seemed the moment of creation had come upon me. But I was unable to think of anything worthy enough to say and was thus content to linger in the fullness of the waning light, knowing I was closer to heavenly things than to earthy matters, and ever shall be.
From Bernard Durrant's poignant book, The Heart In Exile, 1964-1990
The poet in 1945 after being freed as a political prisoner.
Bernard as a young man aged nineteen.
Bernard Durrant 2002, London.
Extract from the Introduction to 'Flowers of Stone' by
Zen Master Tekkan Matsumoto:
Seraphin J Sigrist, a bishop and most distinguished orientalist in New York, who wrote the foreword to Durrant's FROM THE BUTTERFLY'S WING book of poetry, published in Japan ten years ago to excellent reviews, referred to the distinct note of sadness throughout the collection.
Yet reading in manuscript form Durrant's latest offering FLOWERS OF STONE, written I feel with much restraint and precision, I am not aware of any sense of sorrow over the human condition. On the contrary, he reveals an affinity with the spiritual landscapes of Zen Buddhism; there is a rhythmic flow in his lines, the gentle flowing movement which is found in all Japanese art: archery, flower arrangement, scroll writing and the tea ceremony.
Instinctively, Durrant stays close to the roots of Nature. Was it not dear Basho, our seventeenth century haiku poet, who made the important statement: "Learn about a pine from a pine, and about a bamboo from a bamboo." Durrant uses the same cool objective framework, puts silence and solitude to the forefront, as for example:
Let flowers die gracefully like old letters in a drawer
Below are a few titles Bernard has published, we hope there will be more; we know that he is at the moment busy working on a new work "The Living Blossom" a prose and poetry memoir in his ninetieth year!
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