Poetic spam

[muckefuck]

I found this in my mailbox:

Cascading snowflakes settle in the pines,The pain of being born into matter

Could someone have signed me up for some couplet-a-day service? Perhaps, but I would think such a service would have less prosaic subject lines than "Autodesk AutoCAD 2008 $129". Or am I simply blind to the poetry of everyday things?

In other recent oddness, I was walking back through the park from monshu's terribly late last night when I saw a cyclist approaching from the opposite direction. I didn't think he spied me, but he pulled off the sidewalk and tucked himself in between some overgrown shrubs and a spruce. I proceeded with caution; when I passed the spot, I turned to look and saw him standing just off the path. He was a husky middle-aged man in t-shirt and shorts, not at all shabby-looking like the homeless people who typically roam that park at night; his face was glistening with sweat and he was breathing hard. We regarded each other for a moment and I kept walking. When I turned back to look a dozen paces later, he was getting back on his bike and continuing onward. WTF?

Comments

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

The first half is easy enough, e.g. 雪花波落松 (lit. "snow flower waves fall.upon pines"). The second is harder. I'd have to find a consecrated Buddhist idiom to translate "being born into matter". Perhaps 生物? What do you suggest?

As for the picture, I think that's your department.

Something like this ...

[monshu.livejournal.com]

Maybe some variation on 生色界 (born in the form realm) or
生者必滅 (all who are born must perish).