AND the serpent rose

And hovered above his head

So that the rain

Not disrupt his peace

Nor the water

Dampen his spirit.

Buddha sat motionless

And let the world outside

Dissipate into a veil

Of timelessness and shadow.

And all cares of the world,

The struggles, the endless pursuits

Of material comfort,

The strain of labor,

The pain of human suffering

Came to be seen

As their true emanations.

The natural byproduct

Of the unexamined life.

And the Bodhi Tree remains

To remind us

What Buddha has left us.

And the Buddha is alive

In the branches and the leaves

And the roots that reach forever into the soil.

–Dekklun Cuinn

© 2011