Three Gestures
I. Dharmacakra
The gesture of teaching
beyond a gesture of learning
all my gaps, all that I forgot
We can see without mirrors
in the whiteout and the sands
sweeping the shapes we're going
Crazy streets growing wild weed
the contemplative mind, best to
heed the angle of deadly corners
The twinge, the fidget and the snore
the life-span, sweet roses and the sea
(strange all the dirty deals we made)
Help me learn the perfect cup of tea
teach me to dance the broken arrow
I might show them the broken steps.
II. Varada
A kitten was run over by a car
tonight it lay on the road crying
intestines on a razor's edge
Before I could crush her skull
she got up and licking her gore
walked back through the hedge
Nighttime, exodus, people
crossing perilous borders
begin their journeys of freedom
Probably died in the bushes
from her first true crossing
a kid, a plan, a nalpadika
No word for this in any language
no word can toy with compassion
learns too late that most of it’s deadly
I wrap the story up and let it go
later seal it inside a diamond heart
and send this to the ones I love.
III. Abhaya
How these days pass
old speeches are regretted
all the trees look different
Faces to carry faces
a foot in parallel dreamings
its baskets within baskets
A Möbius twist of tracks
a house is burning next to
an insipid piece of work
Faces to faces watch
while the mirrors crack
waiting for a train to pass
Nature, it isn’t feckless
sometimes rabbits wait
for long trains to finish
Birds searching for the world
an egg falls from the nest
an old lizard sucks it dry
Freedom is on the bend
now try, go home, try
and practise courage.
this is a wonderful meditation poem, inspiring!
ReplyDeleteI am waiting for Bhumisparsha, Rob :)
ReplyDeleteMe too, Chrys. But maybe in some way all poems are that mudra - and the earth gesture is the poetry that bears witness to the world around us?
ReplyDeleteYes mediative is the way to describe this one. Really enjoyed it!
ReplyDeleteCheers.
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