Sunday December 14
*
A moment’s rest
before steep rising climb
a glimpse
not so far across the space
to the light of my long day
slight gentle beautiful determined bright one
firmly alone firmly herself
to quietly remind me
that not so far away
our warm and bright
future day
Then silently to say to tell
of a space
wondrous yet bewildering
in it’s ruined grace
A humble entry through a door way
at the east
To quietly stand in a courtyard
beneath the sharp clear light
that once from day and elements
beneath a roof was shielded
To gaze from wall to wall
each leading to many rooms
chapels each was once
Along these walls in a great circle
pedestals where once noble figures stood
glittering with gold and jewels
In calm benevolent attention
to what we cannot tell
for we know not yet
the true nature of the sacred space
in which these figures dwelled
But then upon the ground
in stark ruins beneath the light
we see a rise first here then there
and then make out a shape
it’s a flower gentle beautiful one
a great lotus mandala
and at its center once there stood
the divine Vairocana
surrounded by the others
their finery matched equally by all the
figures on the walls of each
chapel that surrounds it
Once they spoke
to heart of worshiper
of noble truths whose richness
far outstripped their mere mortal finery
to fashion souls
to create peace
in the midst of a warring feudal world
Now all are gone
for to the people that later came
religion was but poison
it’s symbols but a paean
to opulent bourgeois finery
to be spoken to in the dusty
roar of hammer and dynamite
all lost when the madness was spent
still their truth lives on
rich in hearts of those
that even now carry it
at the cost of their very lives
in their hearts
and on their backs
to far distant lands
And in some other reality
these quiet beings
yet look with gentle kindness still
on all beings that come
to the chapel of King Yeshe O
Even still gentle one
not this so wondrous
as your determined beauty
and swift uplifted grace
that endures with patient dignity
that I see in you
at the morn of this
rain filled day
Lotus blossoms rest
upon the window sill
and so we wait
two as one
we our effort
real and lasting
slight gentle
beautiful one
December 11
* courtesy of A Luminous Diamond (Bright) Crystal Show productions.
reference material for the poem is courtesy of the Footprint Tibet handbook by Gyurme Dorje.