A friend of mine, a scholar of Buddhism and traditional Chinese, has recently been talking about how ‘sunyata’ is grossly mistranslated into English and misunderstood in the West as ‘nothingness’, when the most accurate translation would be ‘evanescence’.
When he first mentioned this I thought to myself, “Well then, I guess that makes sense.” Everything about life and every moment has always seemed evaporative to me.
I didn’t quite know what the title of this would be when I started writing it, but about halfway through, ‘sunyata’ seemed like a perfect fit. Still feels like a perfect fit. So, my 23rd villanelle.
sunyata
fill with evanescent light
every momentary cell
coursed throughout imagined form
every vessel heart to limb
pulsing moments on to self
fill with evanescent light
illuminate each hidden fold
churning vapors through the soul
coursed throughout imagined form
every fiber bound to life
linking bone to skin be still
fill with evanescent light
elucidate this vital force
streaming like an endless swell
coursed throughout imagined form
every sorrow pain and fret
breathing mixed amid the silt
fill with evanescent light
coursed throughout imagined form
