sleeping...

today i find myself
as spontaneously unpredictable
as a dynamite,
the lit lead pausing,
on the edge of spark contact--
dead,
or sleeping.

***

'blum' (The Eternal Law)

not a speck of the real
reflects in the pond.

neither the stars,
nor the moon,
nor the tall palms
silhoeutted against the glow of the milky way.

everything goes out of purpose
into a slithering,
twisting,
rolling,
dance of the unreal...

i wait here,
watching,
for the ripples to dance out their dance.

*****

This is what Lao Tzu had to say about finding the Eternal Law (as taken from an Osho talk):

Attain the utmost in Passivity,
Hold firm to the basis of Quietude.
The myriad things take shape and rise to activity,
But I watch them fall back to their repose.
Like vegetation that luxuriantly grows
But returns to the root from which it springs.
To return to the root is Repose;
It is called going back to one's Destiny.
Going back to one's Destiny is to find the Eternal Law,
"Tao."
To know "Tao" is Enlightenment.
And not to know the Eternal Law, "Tao,"
Is to court disaster.

*****

to my son *

don't grieve

fathers will come and go

sons should grow up
to be strong men

***

empty corridor

sitting here
the chair tilted at this angle
i see
reflected on the window pane
the entire stretch of an empty corridor.

surely,
a great omen.

***

self-importance

how sad...
all the glory of humble life they miss--
these great men,
giddyingly engrossed
deep in the glory of their own self-importance.

*****

dawn

naked feet
tapping down the stone steps,
i quiver...
the pond,
in dawn-chill haze.

***

uniformly...

the same footprints,
coming and going, coming and going,
along the long trek path,

breathing...
changing shape...

uniformly.

*****

hush...

did you,
there at the stern of my canoe,
sit with your oars gently paddling,
as the lull fell over the river
and dark clouds billowed up the skies,
the trees, leaning over,
holding their breath
for the birds
to return safe to roost,
before the storm?

did you,
just a moment ago,
smile,
still-freezing the lull,
reassuringly...
gently paddling?

*****