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This poem and others are available in my books, Nothing Works: Meditations on Aikido, Buddhism, the Tao, Zen, and other inconsequential things....and, Nothing Special, and Nothing Matters..., available thru Amazon.com, in print and Kindle editions and Barnes & Noble websites.....Also available as an e-book via Smashwords.com. Try this link: www.nothing-works.com for the full array of options.
I am a wet leaf
Clinging to the door
A door heavily barred
Against a chill
Not entirely nature made
Still, I cling, waiting
Hoping, in desperation
That when the bell tolls in
Tumbling waves of sound
My desperate patience
Will be rewarded
In obscurity
At small dojos
All over the world
We show up and train
No one makes us do this
In fact, we pay for the privilege
But, every day, we sweat
We sweat some more
We struggle, we bleed
We practice, we fight others
But, mostly, we fight ourselves
The years go by
No limelight
No roaring crowds
And still we train
In small, quiet dojos
All over the world
We pursue excellence
In obscurity
Talk to me
Let us have a dialogue
An intimate conversation
Touch me!
Attack me! Go-no-sen
Ah, data, information...
One is now two
Two talk - move
Two are becoming one - again
Talk some more Sen-no-sen
The dialogue intensifies!
My body converses
With my mind, my spirit
I converse with yours
I move - you move Sen-sen-no-sen We move...
Come - talk with me!
You can stare into the abyss
And deny its existence
Or, you can look and feel
The normal fear it brings forth
But, still ready to take that leap
That leap from which there is no return
Where you exit from the other side
Either a broken person, mind shattered
Or, you emerge greater than before
Mind sound and soul enraptured
Looking back at the abyss
As though at a small puddle you needed to cross
To reach this far shore where light and joy inhabit
And God is finally within reach
For some
The sound of silence
Is an oxymoron
A nonsensical phrase
That connotes a negative Why won't you say something?
We never talk anymore!
It's so quiet in here - Implying more noise
Is a more preferable state
Granted verbal communication
Can be a good thing
But, silence, silence
Is also a natural language
Be quiet now - listen
Find a quiet spot - listen
Settle yourself - listen
A profound silence can follow
Listen - silence has a vastness
And, if you listen very closely
Sometime, sometimes
You can hear faint whispers
From far away - far away
God hears your silence
And approaches
We all follow the forms
All very proper and correct
Do this. Do that. Now this.
No, this way, that's it!
But, what is truly important
Does not appear in form
Or, even in technique
Train hard, train long
And, with proper instruction
And insight, you just might get it
But, today, some say,
No one does, so
How can these times
Produce Masters?
My hatband says: I travel with the Buddha But, do I, really?
www.nothing-works.com
In response to some questions as to the meaning of "Hatband" here: In ancient Japan, it was customary for travelers to wear inscribed hatbands saying they traveled with the Buddha to reduce the hazards of travel.