The thief left it behind: the moon at my window - Ryokan
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Sky Burial
(poem for Tibet)
A land in the sky was plundered
and a simple monk
torn from it’s soil
A handful of seeds
was dispersed all over earth
The teacher we could not reach
stands among us now
He says no one can liberate us
from a prison of our own making
Only we can free ourselves
Bones, cartilage and flesh
are vultures food
But the jewel
hidden in the heart
no one can destroy
Om Mani Padme Hum
Monday, February 2, 2009
Friend, stop a moment
Poem for Burma
Come, friend, sit beside me
on the river bank
Hear the ripples break the stillness
See the leaf bob on the waters
Now lightning strikes the water
A body floats by
And the earth
On which we sit turns scarlet
A child whose face
Is blank with despair
Sits amongst silent corpses
Looking at the murderer
Who does not see, nor hear nor feel
Oh, may we be his eyes,
his ears and his heart!
Hush, hear the goddess
who reigns this land
Whose precious feet walk
alongside those of Ghandi,
His Holiness the Dalai Lama,
Mandela and other noble warriors
Hush, hear her heart
beat the anguish
of mothers who have seen
their children raped and desecrated
Hush, hear her whisper
to her Buddha children“and yet... and yet
DO NO HARM”
See her face imprinted
on the hearts of saffron robed soldiers
Oh, what have we done!
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© Anna Varney-Wong