Sunday April 3
*
A glimpse
forth toward the steep climb
to the leading light of my long day
slight gentle beautiful determined bright one
patiently making her way
she firmly alone firmly herself
to quietly remind me
that not so far away
for she I we two
our warm and bright future day
and to her then to say to tell
of where the Yangtze Dri chu
shifts within its walls of rock
Its tons of water to move
with effortless power
twisting between
Mount Haba Gangri
and Yulong Shan Jade Dragon
It turns upon it's course
southeast to northeast
thence to south it goes
to the lands below
it to surround
upon sides three the place
they call the Jang Sadam
Where the Kings and Queens
of Jang Sadam reigned
through the centuries from
their palace of splendor
in place of wonder
where the ancient deities
and those of Bon
and the Buddhist pantheon
and the sages of the Dao
were living presences
of the Dongba faith
The Dongba faith yet remains
among the Tibetan Naxi Jang
and the cobbled streets of stone
still ring with the sound
of their music
their laughter and their voices
through the marketplace
that still bustles as it has
for centuries beyond count
Look beautiful one
it's the Liu Lidian Bumishi monastery
without it's built in Chinese guise
unfamiliar temple of colored glaze
but within are images of presences
of the Tibetan land
Avalokiteshvara Chenrezik compassionate one
holding lotus white
smiles at us
infinite wisdom and poise
and the gentle ring of the bell
of Vajrasattva Dorje Senpa comes to us
he again looks upon us in welcome
he meditation buddha
friend in a place yet strange to us
the Kamarpa great spiritual leader
of Kagyu lineage he of charismatic gaze
some with his power
have led millions to fates of anguish
on battlefields of millenia
long ago he chose another way
he looks upon us now
with infinite kindness
and Vajrayogini Dorje Neljorma
Queen of the Dakini
sky dancers she is here
for they of untrammelled mind
can move effortlessly
as does the Yangtze Dri chu
among the peaks of power
to bring sustenance
to those who live
All this not so wonderful
to my straining eyes
as your determined beauty
and swift uplifted grace
that endures with patient dignity
this that I see in you
beneath the open sky
on this afternoon
of our spring of working
and waiting
and weaving
Lotus blossoms rest
upon the window sill
and so we wait
two as one
we our effort
real and lasting
slight gentle
beautiful one
March 29
* courtesy of A Luminous Diamond (Bright) Crystal Show productions.
reference material for the poem is courtesy of the Footprint Tibet handbook by Gyurme Dorje.