In Quest of the Buddha
EUGENE D’VAZ
I take you along the cobbled path of night
Questions hang from the blinking stars
The one worth asking
Is framed around the petals of the lotus.
Across the moon-made Shadows
We stumble on the rough stones
Till the white bird of heaven
Descends with the promise of an answer
Twittering out in soft monosyllables.
The cobblestones wake up from their bed
Of chained ledgers.
Ragged children of the sun
Only your warm hand
Makes me take the thrust towards
The answer to our mangled questions.
The Enlightened One whispers
The armies of the night jab our sides
Into gashes spewing blood and water
Turning into the flowers of our innocence.
Buddha smiles through every aperture
Of the twisting gyrating throng.
The flowers rush in a hurricane
Into our rib cages
Only your warm hand
Awakens in a burst the dying bonfire of the night
Buddha holds his hand back
In benediction over the lost ones.
Eight arches glimmer
In the night of our quest
The wailing goes up to meet
Angel voices streaming down air currents
Only your hand on my aging limbs
Tells me that I have to live
That the Buddha still waits
That the question is yet to be asked.