Tag: temple

Unencumbered

Unencumbered, must I enter
Unattached
Unburdened

Burdens weigh me down
Attachments distract me
Encumbrances hold me back

Strange forms
Provoke me
To alter my idea
Of strange

Which alters my idea
Of beauty
Which alters my idea
Of love

And so
My capacity
For compassion
Grows

Enamoured of Truth
And science
And knowledge
And politics
And justice
And philosophy
Was I

Filled with hubris
And righteousness
And anger
And cleverness
And vitriol
Was I too

Then I encountered Buddha
And the Dao, too

Nature was building
Cathedrals to touch the sky
Long before we
Ever came along

A flower bloom
Of porcelain
A dozen tiles
Or more

A stupa grand
And towering
Each tile placed
By hands of men

In a culture of simplicity
Reserved and spare in style
The simplest line
Or gesture slight
To the eye must seem ornate

A juggernaut
Of intricate
Each rosette
So delicate

Some doors invite
Some doors challenge
Some doors bar
Some doors beg

Sometimes
It’s difficult to tell
Which is which
Until I try to open them

Sometimes I think
It would be nice
To have a many-headed serpent
Guarding my front door
Barring the riff-raff and chaff

Curiosity
May well have
Killed the cat

But it made
A man
Of the boy