Cabin In The Catskills

The little cabin in the Catskills (see Hermitage and Building the Hermitage). The door is always inviting, but especially in winter when it's snowing and the woodstove is fired up and glowing. And then you step in, close the door, start boiling some water for tea, and dig out Red Pine's The Zen Works of Stonehouse: Poems and Tales of a 14th-Century Chinese Hermit. And fluff up the sleeping bag.

84. Crow Landing on a Tree in Winter

Woodcut (above) and verse (below) from the beautiful Copper Canyon Press reprint of Sung Po-jen's Guide to Capturing a Plum Blossom. Published in 1238, this beloved text is the world's first book of art and poetry. Translation by the incomparable Red Pine (Bill Porter). 

this applies to men or crows
view an icy branch with care
the moon is bright and rest is welcome
but still it circles a tree three times.

Good advice.