Spring advances, sun returns;
grey skies give way
to flocks of round clouds;
worms, birds and mice are busy
View toward East Gate, in late May.
A
mother mouse tunneled into the old woman’s mattress to give birth. Mrs.
Mouse and her brood died one spring day as the old woman lay down for a
nap. The old woman mourned more than she would have expected.
Were it not for the suffering of sentient beings, no need for compassion would arise.
-- John Daido Loori in The True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen's Three Hundred Koans xxxii)