There were three friends
Discussing life.
One said
"Can men live together
And know nothing of it?
Work together
And produce nothing?
Can they fly around in space
And forget to exist
World without end?"
The three friends looked at each other
And burst out laughing.
They had no explanation.
Thus they were better friends than before.
Then one friend died.
One friend
Had composed a song.
While the other played a lute,
They sang:
"Hey, Sung Hu!
Where'd you go?
Hey, Sung Hu!
Where'd you go?
You have gone
Where you really were,
And we are here -
Damn it! We are here!"
Translation by Thomas Merton The Way of Chuang Tzu, New Directions Books, 1965