SINFUL FEET

Washing sinful feet on this penultimate day!

Oh Lord! How great thou art!

Washing the feet of your fellow men!

Only The Son of Man can do!

With Love and compassion you do shine

As you washed away their grit and grime

You did know, who would go for silver

You did know, for whom the rooster will crow

You also knew, who all would walk away

Yet you washed them all equally! Full of   boundless love!

Oh Lord Almighty! Washing the feet of your fellow men

Washing away their sins they are yet to commit!

Let me humbly learn, from your everlasting love!

BELOVED KRISHNA

Come back soon! Oh my beloved Krishna!

My heart reaches out to you!

I am nothing here; without you!

All this colorful rainbow of life is only an illusion

When I’m lost in your heavenly bliss!

Time ceases and the “I”ness in me crumbles

When you are by my side!

And everything else vanishes!

When I lie in your arms in ethereal union

And as I feel the warmth of your breath over me

I wish I may breathe my last one!  

Playing on your flute the mystical music of life!

Oh! Beloved Krishna! Come back soon!

Yearning for your long awaited arrival  

The deep blue skies remind me of your cyanotic hue!

The long nights remind me of the hidden earth in your mouth!

Oh lover boy, vanishing in the arms of the possessive!

Appearing in full magnificence only to the selfless!

Playful butter thief! Master of the Gita!

Mystical, Musical; magnificent!

Oh Beloved of the lovers! Oh Lover of the Gopis!

Come back soon! Oh my Beloved Krishna!

My heart reaches out to you!

BABEL FISH

Swimming in the sea of verbs and nouns!

With fins of grammar and gills of connotation!

Oh Babel fish!

From semantics to semiotics you flip your tail!

As meaning and metaphor follow your trail!

Irony and humour; content and consciousness!

Within separate bubbles of umvelt!

Communicating all that’s heart felt!

Evolving within a common semiosphere!

Into the oxygen of man’s social atmosphere !

Oh Babel fish swimming in the sea of verbs and nouns!

Master of language and messiah of communication!

How great is thy eloquence!

ABODE OF LOVE

In this house of everlasting Love

There are no roofs and there are no walls

There are no boundaries here at all

Only open skies and the yielding earth

All that’s between and all the mirth

Oh, loving friend!

When you lose your form into this oblivion

And enter this abode of everlasting Love

There is nothing left of you, but everything!

DHARMA CHAMELEON

Changing contrast to the context!

Changing with the flow!

Merging with the ever changing contour!

Molding to every color; molding to every hue!

I wish my mind too was as flexible as you!

 

Flexible in attitude; flexible in perspective!

Flexible in accepting; things that I cannot change!

Oh! Phantasmagorical chameleon hidden in the bush!

How flexible is the color of your skin! 

DIFFERING STEAM

In this world of diversity!

Everything has a reason; everything has a place

Everything happens at its owns pace

Chugging along through the mountain terrain! 

With built up steam propelling the train

With pistons and levers; huffing and puffing

The mighty engine surges forward harnessing all its steam!

Silent on the table; content and stationary

The gentle kettle, beautiful and fragile in porcelain

Letting go of all its steam!

Not holding on; not building pressure

Pouring out easily all its temporary content!

Dissimilar and distinct!

The Steam engine and the kettle!

 Handling steam in different ways

Letting things go   in a different pace!

Yet, today, in this world of diversity!

The mighty steam engine is obsolete!

But the fragile kettle is still on the dining table

Talents vary and lives are different

And achievements are different too

Listen seeking friend! In this world of diversity!

Happiness is all that counts!

UNSAID TRUTH

The book is on the study table

The blessed pages are turned

The sacred verses are read

 The holy lines are remembered

Even as the light illuminates the open pages

The revered truth remains unsaid! 

YEARNING OYSTER

 

In the dark deep depths of mighty blue ocean

Searching, seething; seeking!

For the precious mystery of the hidden pearl

Under reef and rock you have rummaged

Drawn by the current and swooned by the gyre

Oh! Nacreous Friend!

Why seek pearls when you yourself are an oyster!

What different pearl will you seek in others?

Who else will open their shell to you?

Looking all over for the precious pearl!

Oh, yearning oyster of the mind!

Don’t forget to look inside!

ZAZEN

 

In the midst of a clamorous crowd of feelings

Something remains silent

In the midst of the dazzling dance of perception

Something silently watches

In the midst of all this watching

Something dies! Something is silently let go!

No desire, no seeking, no satisfaction!

No existence! No nonexistence!

Only zazen! 

GARDEN OF LIFE

No sprouting seed worries about the timing of the coming rain!

No growing plant worries about the duration of sunshine!

No fragrant flower worries about the buzzing of the bumble bees!

No succulent fruit worries about the fate of its precious seed!

Yet with the passing of every new season!

The luxuriant garden of life; still silently blossoms!  

HERE AND NOW

Happiness is here and now

And here and now is bliss!

The winds of thoughts may sway you to the future

And clouds of uncertainty may rain

But all of that is an illusion!

All of that is untrue!

For Happiness is here and now

And this Happiness is bliss!

Rusty anchors of the past may drag you with regret and sorrow

And chains of attachment may pull you down

But all of that is an illusion

All of that that is untrue

For, happiness is here and now

And here and now is bliss!

BARBED WIRE

Wrathful coils of cold metal held by rusting poles apart

Barbs and spikes greedy to rip the flesh apart

 Paranoid faces with untold fears

Taking formidable shelter; now behind the barbed wire!

Tell me dear friend? Hiding behind this quagmire!           

Where is the precious soul inside that you seek to protect?

Where are the mighty monsters that you so dread  

Those mindless vices that you desperately try to drive out

Are they inside or outside, the black boundaries of your huffy barbed wire?

 You could not afford the opaqueness of the wall; but could you not afford even an open heart?

The barbed wire across the land; is a barbed wire across the heart

Once sharing love and dividing the pain

Why now, divide the heart and bleed with pointless pain

Entangling and constricting, the loving heart with caustic spikes

Leaving behind bleeding sores on the souring soul

Tell me dear friend!

Who is it who hides behind this barbed wire? 

SEA OF FEELINGS

Blue skies; the water flowing!

Fleeting feelings floating!

Figuring, fighting!

Fielding, fending!

In foamy fits of frenzy!

Formless  forces failing!

Futile fusion in a frothy fugue!   

Flowing feelings; now finally fleeting! 

HIGHWAY REMAINS

Limp and lifeless now left lying by the highway

With skull split open and the warm blood still flowing 

As the hardness of the asphalt greets the softness of the grey matter

Desires, hope and dreams; all vanishing now; with one wrong turn

Oh pitiful friend! Once speeding on the highway of life

Riding of the wheels of self pursuit   

When you skidded and swerved by the corner 

 Did you have time enough to think?

Who will cry, by your scattered remains!

LIMERENCE

 

The subtle nuances spoken in the lingering glance

The hidden passion within the smiling dance

Orchestrated meetings yet happening by chance  

And Conversations ending in a mutual trance

Tell me dear friend

If this bliss is not it! What is romance?

STRIKE OF LIGHTNING

The gathered clouds claver about the coming storm!

The worried earth rattles; the angered winds howl!

Within the ever-churning foliage of the mind!

Restless fears chatters and turbulent thoughts rumble!

And when the lightning strikes the tallest tree!

Can the leafy mind break free? 

NOTHING REMAINS THE SAME

When a note of music changes; can the song remain the same?

When the words of a poem changes – can the meaning remain the same ?

When a story itself changes; can the end be the same?

Oh ever-changing mind of mine

As all composite things change- can the soul ever remain the same ? 

SMILING BY THE MOONLIGHT

Smiling in the moonlight; as no one watches

Smiling to myself; smiling in bliss

The floating clouds come and go; as the moon is shining

Happiness and sorrow flow; as I sit smiling

As the sun of dawn soon approaches the fleeting night

Even this blissful moonlight has to go!

STRANDED BY THE DUNES

The hot summer heat is thickening my blood  

My face is parched and sweat is beaded on my brow

My legs are shaky and my heart is pounding

Dunes of sand rise above me as formidable mountains

The flying dust blinding my eyes, now settles down within my soul

As the eternal fatigue over powers me and thirst the killer stabs me

No water, no shade, no scope for salvation

Will the hope rain of come too Late?

Or, will it only wash away my dried up bones! 

BOLTED WITHIN

The old rugged  curtains are drawn and the smoky window panes are held shut

But with the glowing brilliance of the shining sun

A little bit of sunshine stills seep in!

As within darkened mazy corners of the ever clinging mind

There is still so much anger, and so much hatred! 

But yet, the comforting rays of love can still seep in!  

Caged within the four walls of the ego and bolted by the door of fear! 

Oh little bird of truth!  Will you ever be set free? 

BLISS OF NOT KNOWING

The ticking clock does not know what a moment of time is!

The glowing Light does not know what brightness is!

The spinning earth does not know what the feel of the ground is!

The infinitely blue sky does not know what vastness is!

Yet with a still mind; I can sense all these and much more!

Oh reasoning mind of mine!

There is much more to life; than what you can ever sense!

So let go of your fluttering thoughts and become this everlasting bliss!