you find a flower

You find a flower half-buried in leaves,

And in your eye its very fate resides.

Loving beauty, you caress the bloom;

Soon enough, you’ll sweep petals from the floor.

Terrible to love the lovely so,

To count your own years, to say “I’m old,”

To see a flower half-buried in leaves

And come face to face with what you are.

~ 寒山 Han Shan

Han-shan's early life was privileged. He was well educated, traveled, served in the military, went to war, competed unsuccessfully for government jobs, and finally married, moved to the country and became a gentleman farmer. As the years passed, he became increasingly dissatisfied with his life and disappointed in the world of men. One day he packed up some books and began to wander. His wanderings led him to a remote place called Cold Mountain, in the Tien Tai range in southern China, where he built a hut, dug a pond and planted some vegetables. 

~ comments from Wikipedia