Another Scarlet Emperor Bean has popped its head out of the soil in my little garden. I had to move him. The garden is too small for four beans and two squash as it is. The only place he could go was the front yard to keep one of the straggling pumpkins company. His first night in his new home he had to confront below freezing temperatures, but he faced it like the heroic bean he is.

When I planted him, I didn’t have a name for him. I had to do some research on Tang Dynasty poets, having exhausted my existing knowledge (not difficult). I found the perfect poem and the perfect poet. I’m going to explore more.

This bean is now known a Liu Changqing (Lou Changching more or less) and he’s a Taoist bean who was also a government official. So far I’ve only read a few poems by this (to me) new poet but they are perfect for this moment and where this bean will live, in view of the San Juan Mountains, especially my favorite, “Windy Peak.”

While Visiting the Taoist Priest Chang on the South Stream  (尋南溪常山道人隱居)^[5]

一路經行處，   Walking along a little path, ;
莓苔見履痕，   I find a footprint on the moss.
白雲依靜渚，   A while cloud low on the quiet lake
春草閉閒門。   Grasses that sweeten an idle door.
過雨看松色，   A pine grown greener with the rain;
隨山到水源，   A brook that comes from a mountain source – 
溪花與禪意，   And, mingling with Truth among the flowers, 
相對亦忘言。   I have forgotten what to say.