Dennis Spilchuk Poet Tanka

Notes About The Poem

A Butterfly Dream

A Butterfly Dream

Once I dreamt I was 
a butterfly fluttering
aloft in the air,
or was the butterfly me
metamorphosed in a dream?
            ***

Note:
   "Once I, Zhuang Zhou, dreamed that I was a butterfly and was happy as a butterfly. I was conscious that I was quite pleased with myself, but I did not know that I was Zhou. Suddenly I awoke, and there I was, visibly Zhou. I do not know whether it was Zhou dreaming that he was a butterfly or the butterfly dreaming that it was Zhou. Between Zhou and the butterfly there must be some distinction. This is called the transformation of things."
--Zhuang Zhou [Zhuangzi] (c.369 BC-c.286 BC)

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