Incense Under the Blue Sky

Sorrow is eating at people of good character, and a single stick of incense burns beneath an open sky. Care is taken over minor errors while idle thoughts go on through long hours of learning. The last line is very compressed, so our English gives only its plainest sense.

Kyo, Bad fortune, is what the book prints for this verse, and the wear on good people in the first line is reason enough for it. Printings differ: one gives bad fortune first and Small good fortune after. The lone thread of smoke is the only offering in the picture, and the verse does not say it was answered.

Taken as a present-day reflection, the images suggest a conscientious person worn thin by watching for small mistakes. Sometimes the guarding itself fills the hours.