Hai Phan Poet Free verse

Kicking the Ball Against the Wall

Kicking the Ball Against the Wall

By Phan Tan Hai 
 
Playing soccer since childhood days
with friends down by the railway tracks;
whenever the train’s whistle wailed,
the match would end, and we’d head home.

Practicing ball skills on the street corner with friends—
shouts, cheers, and laughter
echoing through unforgettable years,
memories traveling to every horizon.

Then came a time of quiet solitude,
clutching the ball back to that old street corner;
only the walls remained as companions,
bouncing the ball back and forth at midday.

The wall seeks no points to score;
winning or losing matters as little as sun or rain.
The wall has no goal, no net—
it simply returns whatever ball comes its way.

The weathered, compassionate wall
bounces the ball back to one's feet;
no echoes remain to be held in memory,
letting them drift away on the wind.

I see myself and the ball as one,
the wall and the rebounding ball as not-two;
no whistle blows to start the game,
while the five aggregates run upon the field.

At night, I light the lamp to read,
watching the seasons drift across the page;
the ball follows characters slender as cranes,
transcribing words beneath the fading moonlight.

I sit, I listen, I perceive—
the ball still appears across the vast sky;
the wall is the unmoving mind,
a mind formless and wordless.

Eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind
manifest like illusions, like morning dew;
ball meets wall—simply "as it is":
no person, no ball, no wall.

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