*****

Recorded Reading (3:38): https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/jjgrjuf4bwgkasj44bjs3/Steps-on-the-Path.mp3?rlkey=lnf3vqa64pjk2imxoeexe9mz8&st=2gz1xwt6&dl=0

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Steps on the Path

Reading of a Buddhist text
In my little tent
I sought to find what might be next
On the path to enlightenment

That text taught as good a way
As any I have ever met
Step by step — one step today
Tomorrow to the goal to get

There were five steps, from ignorance
To universal bliss achieve
Two of which had radiance
Mine inner eyes perceive

The first of these the seeker told
To meditate on the unfair ~
Inwardly images hold
Of wrong, injustice and despair

To find a single sad event
On this whole planet sadness of
Wholeness twisted, broken, bent
Betrayal of love

And then the text advised that we
Begin to multiply
In meditation inwardly
That single sorrow present by

All the souls the city in
Upon the night of exercise
Cannot free from that sorrow win,
And then the meditator tries

To multiply it yet again
By all the cities in that land ~
Attempt to comprehend the pain
Ever around us all at hand

After for sufficient time
We have made this our discipline
We from our self-obsession climb
We see compassion’s growth begin

Though by that pass we’ve soaked our hearts
In so much grimness, doom and gloom,
The text referred to now imparts,
That we have left but little room

To entertain the happiness
The lightness and the ecstasy
Which any grateful soul must bless
In contact with Divinity

And so the step next following
Our focus on that which annoy
Calls all the same techniques to bring
In focusing on joy

That couple with the starry eyes
And smiles from ear to ear ~
For this step inspiration lies
Around each corner, Now and Here

See how the little seedling sprout
Gladly stretches to the sun
Instinctive, children everywhere
Know how to have fun

Oh, choose the artist, lost in throes
Of creative ecstasy
Or the new mother, counting toes
On fascinating progeny

Or choose the mind frustrated by
Its unanswered questions burn
Given opportunity to try
And permission to learn

Choose the imprisoned, shut within
Impenetrability
And then set free, as it begin
To understand its liberty

Then marvel at the cosmic flow
Which brings the sorrows which have passed
And by which we direction know
Unto Nirvana — home at last

*****

This poet presently lives at a fraction of her nation’s poverty level.

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