Sunday, March 14, 2021
TEN OLD MONK POEMS (6)
YOU MAY WONDER
You may wonder
who I am,
the old monk says.
Go ahead.
I don't know
what to tell you.
~
SOMETIMES SOLITUDE
Sometimes solitude
is the companion
you seek, the old monk
says. Sometimes it's friends
to drink your wine with.
~
THE STARS KEEP SPEAKING
The stars keep speaking
of forever,
the old monk says,
even as my heart
begins to fail.
~
YOU KEEP LOOKING
You keep looking
out beyond,
the old monk says,
when what you need
is at your feet.
~
DISTANCE IS
Distance is
a kind of sorrow,
the old monk says,
when all your friends
are left behind.
~
IF ONLY
If only
the old monk
had friends,
the old monk
said, he wouldn't
be lonely.
Yet the cost
in stillness
worries him.
~
IN THE GOOD POEM
In the good poem,
the old monk says,
what you say
in the last line
is already
in the first line
and in every
line between.
~
THE OLD MONK SAYS
The old monk says
it looks like
the light is off
and I am quiet,
yet I might
still be working.
~
YOU BUY
You buy what I'm selling?
the old monk asked us.
It's not the kind of deal
you make with the devil.
~
THE OLD MONK
TOLD HIS MASTER
I said
I'd write down
what you said.
I didn't say
I meant it.
~
