“the quiet of a loving eye” ~ Lord Byron

In Zen’s “the quiet of a loving eye”

The stress is on the quiet.   Loving slips

To second place or lower.  In the sky

Of Zen the moon sails silent, though love’s hips

Are in its realm.  A haiku doesn’t see

The lips of geishas painted scarlet red.

Instead the poem looks beyond a sea

To Milky Way celestial meaning spread

Across the sphere’s domain.  Or maybe just

A lantern lit inside a temple will

Provide enough of light, no need for lust

Or sighs.  The poet dips in white his quill.

  This poet catches facts.  The eyes dilate

    Them.  Fireflies float in through an abbey’s gate.

~ Phillip Whidden