has become a lesson.
The bold strokes
of passing clouds
are God’s hieroglyphs
tattooed in silver
on a sapphire sky—
the lyrics to a song
you never heard before,
never forgot.
Tears come
naturally as breath,
hearing it again
for the first time.
How good it feels
to curl your toes
with your legs crossed,
a child’s pleasure-seeking impulse
interrupting your lotus-quest
with laughter,
tempting egoic demons
to rise again
from the crypt,
loose the arrows
of guilt,
split the apple
and fall.
As vividly
as it appeared,
it was never
meant to be,
and so it wasn’t.
So much here depended
on a belief
in gravity.
I will not
belabor the point,
if there seems to be one.
Suffice it to say
I see you now;
I see all of you—
angels and archangels,
bodhisattvas and buddhas,
luminous beings and the great rays
of a light so bright
even endless emptiness
can’t contain it.
All of us
pray the mantra
in unison:
May we be happy,
free from suffering,
completely equanimous
and infinitely joyful.
pray the mantra
in unison:
May we be happy,
free from suffering,
completely equanimous
and infinitely joyful.
What else
has ever been
worth praying for?
has ever been
worth praying for?
As the child of crazy people I learned that asking outright for things allowed who ever I asked too much power over me. Extrapolate from that idea my take on requests made to an all-powerful being in whom my belief felt like my surrender to my fear. I was terrified at the prospect of nuclear war and while I trembled at other stuff for some reason the ramp up to a nuclear exchange was my unspoken obsession. Naming my fear allowed the world too much power. Praying for it was out of the question. Sort of an 'anti-prayer'. What I'm getting at is this: Looking at the state of the world today, I would caution all 'to be careful in what you don't ask for.
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