Tag: Buddhism

Under the Bodhi Tree

We have landed
On the moon
We’ve trained our eyes
Upon the stars
Looked deep inside
The sun’s corona

We’ve gone as fast
As sound and cheetahs
Slowed down time
To see a bullet
Sped it up
To watch grass grow

More than the kisses
More than the words
More than the moments

I miss
The tingling
Resonance
Of your touch

Of gold and gilt
And opalescence
The shrines we build
To gods and money

Here have I resided
For a hundred generations
Constructed for Gautama
In honour of compassion
And the light of self-reflection

Gather here in peace
Quieting your mind
Listen for my voice
The wisdom of the ancients

The world provides
Such an abundance
Of the strange
And unknown

I try not to let
My ignorance
Confine my experience

On a journey
To a strange land
With strange customs
Where nothing seemed familiar

I re-encountered Buddha
Long obscured for me
Made strange by the confines
Of my culture familiar

I dream
Of guardians
In goldenrod armour

In countenance: fierce
But whose hearts
Have the gentleness
Of brushed cotton

I become attached
To what was
Replay it
Over and over

Wishing it
Each time
To be

Different

When I realized
No conflict
Could be resolved
Either by winning
Or capitulation
I began to understand
The true nature of conflict

The interplay
Of force
And resistance

As I turn the pages
Of the open book
That is the world

I discover anew
The creativity of humanity
As we strive for the divine