Classic Poem

I TAKE my boat out in the cloudy morning to ponder on truth.
Over the lake stirred by faintest undulations
I row silently
Among stumps topped with coarse grass
And logs lengthwise in the water
Rotting, covered with moss.
I pass over red and yellow reflections
Of trees, red and yellow, that come down to the lake edge.
Willows and cattail rushes
Stand out in the water to meet my boat.
I float shoreward over lily pads.
The cattail rushes close about the boat,
Waving over my head.
A wind stirs their tops,
Leaving the willow leaves motionless.
I see the cattails reflected, clear and mysterious, in the water,
And the image of the white sun of heaven.
I ponder on truth ultimate and imageless,
But I cannot grasp it.
I think in the images about me, —
The cattails reflected in the water
And the image of the white sun of heaven.