Master
I can show you how to carve the characters,I can help you choose the stones to lay your course,I can sit with you through it all, tears and joy,But you must clear the space before we start.
First and foremost, empty it—it must be bare. What you build there must be yours, out of you;The things will return if you do your work All in an order of answering names.
Whatever insists or demands to be first You must determine vanishes soonest: It will deceive you, memory’s siren, And everything you build will lean on sand.
I will guide your hand as you stir your mix,Though I will let go when you tell me to.Blaming someone else is small-souled slobberAnd bruises with anguish damning your failure.
You will not know when you became the master.Comes a day you will no longer need meBut find your work the genius of your dreamTelling you softly it has always been thus.
I can show you how to carve the characters,I can help you choose the stones to lay your course,I can sit with you through it all, tears and joy,But you must clear the space before we start.
First and foremost, empty it—it must be bare. What you build there must be yours, out of you;The things will return if you do your work All in an order of answering names.
Whatever insists or demands to be first You must determine vanishes soonest: It will deceive you, memory’s siren, And everything you build will lean on sand.
I will guide your hand as you stir your mix,Though I will let go when you tell me to.Blaming someone else is small-souled slobberAnd bruises with anguish damning your failure.
You will not know when you became the master.Comes a day you will no longer need meBut find your work the genius of your dreamTelling you softly it has always been thus.