LEAF IN THE MONSOON

The lashing rain is pouring

Transient streams are flowing

Drawn by the wavy currents

A leaf lost in the monsoons

Floating along in peace

Nothing to watch for; nothing to wish for

No preferred time; no desired destination

Floating in ecstasy; taking the course of destiny

With every sudden change of course

How limitless is the bliss!

THE FIRST DIP IS THE COLDEST

The cold breeze blows over the murky greenness of the salacious pond

My knuckled hands of fear clutch desperately to my shrunken soul

My heart is racing and my mind is numb in horrid anticipation

The brackish green water is filthy and the pond is deep

My knees are shaky and my steps shuffle with hesitation

As time has come for me to dip into this squalid pond

I have sailed across mighty oceans, swam across the bluest of seas

I have bathed in the warm clear waters of the sacrosanct springs hidden in the highest mountains

But the turning wheel of fortune has now left me to the mercy of this smutty pond

As my feet wade into the chillness of the foul water, my worried mind wonders

Isn't the first dip, the coldest!

And after that, all the filth is but a wonted home

As the coldness is accustomed to and filth becomes a habit

Will I lose myself to the pleasures of filth?

Will I wade in the dirty pond with new found happiness?

Lost in the murkiness of the pond and comforted by the ease of swimming in it

Will I not let filth seep into my heart?

Will I not let the filth dilute the values of my soul?

Will I let empathy drown and let the blossom of concern rot away?

As I step into this water, and take my first dip

I gently remind my self

Only the first dip is the coldest!

So don’t let filth become a wonted home

Don’t lose yourself to the valueless currents of pleasure and the weeds of greed  

Remember your root, and remember the lotus blossom on the surface

 Remember the times spent in the warmth wisdom of the sacrosanct springs

As the coldness and fear plead with you one last time; it is but a desperate reminder

Telling you, don’t lose yourself to the filth!

But this coldness is loudest the first time; and then wanes away forever!

So friend, wading in chillness of the filthy pond!

The first dip is the coldest! The rest is a battle on your own! 

HIDING FROM

Smile; a veil that hides your heart

Eyes; a shield that hides your soul

Pride; a wall, you hide your wounds

Pomp; the fort, you hide your ignorance

Pleasure; the fruit that hides your delusion

Hope; the cloud that hides your fears

Self; the lie that hides the truth

Oh! Tell me dear friend!

What is that, you are hiding from? 

PAIN

Pain is the truth and painful is the way

Man may struggle forever

But can the curse of pain go away?

Protector of the body, they often say

But, is not pain, the furnace that burns the soul away

Unfathomable in severity, and variegate in form

Each painful one, scorching the mind in a different way

The writhing pain of birth, the gnawing pain of disease

 

The stabbing pain of injury; the choking pain of death rattle

How merciless is the heinous power of pain

In this ever-changing interwoven web of reality

Where life is a game of survival and preference

The truth of pain may be inevitable

Its flagitious sword may be invincible

But still; letting go of self pity, and letting go of the self

The weed of suffering withers; and the blossom of serenity flourishes

As the truth of pain is here to stay!

BLACK SWAN

Oh black swan sailing the still murky waters

What flows through the blankness of your tacit mind?

What do you think of, as you elegantly pedal your webbed feet

Do you ever wonder why the water is still, when the shore is windy? 

Whether it’s the water or the mind that makes it murky

Do you ever wonder; where did I come from; where will I go

Who is the mighty one that made me?

Do you ever wonder; why is it me; why is it them?

If , all this life is a pointless swim?

If you ever wonder so; Oh little black swan floating in the river of time  

How is it that, you still remain, so ceraceously calm? 

THE MAST OF PRIDE

The mast of pride; now lies scattered on the ocean floor

His bloating corpse; now washed ashore

The headless captain; his brains soaked in gin

Sailing his ship of ego; riding the winds of sin

Seeking the land of glory; in his voyage of self conceit

 It  all seems hunky dory

But until the rock of truth strikes in

Now, as the  water fills his empty deck

And truth makes his ego crack

His self made crown, comes tumbling down

As he struggles to breathe, while his soul does drown

Now lost in the depths of emptiness

With no life left, even to feel his own loneliness

Rotting by the eddies in the ocean floor

His ego and soul lost to nothingness

What more use, can his life be  

Than to feed the hunger of some poor osedax worm!

SEE YOU

I can see the glow of the heavenly light even in the darkness of the worldly night

I can see the everlasting sunshine, even in the hidden dark depths of my soul

I can see the causal webs connecting all things existent

I can see the rise and demise of all composite things 

I can even see the shadow of my own conscious mind

Oh master of mystery! Can I ever see you? 

TURTLE TRAINER

Oh mighty turtle trainer!  How patient thou art!

TURTLE TRAINER- by Osman Hamdi -1906-Turkey

Five Little monsters with minds of their own

How hard you try to train them!

Their ultimate master you may be

But with minds and shells frozen in time

How can you ever control them?

The   turtle of vision, chewing on hedonic cabbage and the lettuce of lust

Can you make him sip the still waters of your mind?

The turtle of hearing, wandering in the waters of rumour and gossip

Can you make him listen to the music of love?

The turtle of smell, judging and dividing the world into shades of good and bad

Can you make him smell the tolerant fragrance of compassion?

The turtle of taste, always seeking solace in greed and gluttony

Can you make him eat the dried up leaves of altruism

The turtle of touch, always seeking comfort and pleasure

Can you make him obey the cane of self discipline?

Oh Mighty turtle trainer of the monstrous mind! How great thou art!

Five little sense monsters you seek to tame!

How great is thy patience! How great is thy perseverance! 

MILLION SPRINGS TO BREAK FREE

A million springs under the sun have passed

Yet my feet are frozen in the morgue of  the past

A thousand moons have arced across the nightly sky

Yet my lonesome sky is never clear

A hundred monsoons have showered and gone

Yet my minds garden is still barren

Oh! How much more must my lost soul wait!

Until its time to break free! 

CALM GLOW

The glow in the horizon grows with morning

The greenness of the grass bows to the rising sun

In the freshness in the cold morning air

And the music of the chirping birds

With silent awareness of every breath

Oh! How much calmer can my mind get!