I’m going to keep doing the right thing.
No matter what.
Hardship does not make me give up. Sorrow does not equate to despair.
I am not a coward.
I will feel the pain and move forward.
Tag: canadian poet
Categories
I Win the Game
You lose by just remembering
You can’t forget your name
And even though you’ll try again
It’s really such a shame
You haven’t hope in high water
If you avoid this middle way
For never do I falter there
I win each time I play
It’s method tried and true
My guide has mapped easy escape
Yet, like so many, you’ll just ignore it
For sensual pleasures you’ll forsake
A win, a title, greatness
While striving for false fame
You’ll burn out, die, forgotten
While I beat you just the same
I win this round
I’ve won each match
All your little moves I catch
And it’s just no fun
To play in vain
For it’s far easier
To achieve my aim
Than for you to lose your stray
It’s like you don’t know how to play
And so I strive to let dogs stay
Where they sleep
I don’t say a peep
Never to blame
Rather my own mind tame
Because it’s not your fault you lose
I repeat, it’s just been a tasteless shame
And a waste of pure potential
If I’m the only one who beats the game
Categories
Common Denominator
Intelligence and wisdom are rare
uncommon
problems and suffering are abundant
common
When taking stock of your own burdens
count what beasts find refuge in your flock
find the sum of your denominator
this path is carved from jagged rock
There is a division to set you free
based in what is always true
you can’t spell it without “m” and “e”
but it doesn’t exist without “you”
And if you feel this you is everlasting
you might wish for sweet release
but there’s only one place you find escape
in the depths of your mind . . . already at peace
Such a subtle inner destination
difficult without faith to find
absorbed in gross cessation
a very subtle wind will move a very subtle mind
Only a child dreams that death’s jaws
should be an automatic portal
to a supposed better place – or even an end
It would
be, could be
wiser to pretend
we are already happy
with strength to contend
showing a better character
moral discipline and restraint
with bravery and heart not feint
an honour for which all others thirst
and a mind that always puts others first
To figure out what’s common
to the denominator of your life
you just have to find a wisdom mirror
and let go of mindmade strife
The quality we wish to see
is already present –
it’s just buried beneath
aeons of bad habits . . .
and misguided familiarity
divide it out
for there is no
/me
Categories
Bitter Beauty
Winter’s hues
of pinks and blues
have brought me to my knees
Wind’s frosty bite
stings day and night
burned alive by blistering breeze
New fallen snow
rainbowed with sun’s glow
illuminates the deadened trees
Rare beauty appears
just once here in years –
so savour this vicious freeze
lying cramped in the tub
feeling like I’ve done this not hundreds
but infinite times before
floating here in scented water salted
overly concerned with eight unavoidable concerns
actually caring to be incensed or insulted!
tossed about violently and needlessly by eight winds!
anyway, words are received meaninglessly, buoyant on the sea
of a soured mind, like mine
if I observe for even a moment
I bear witness: I exist so foolishly
perfumed, smelling sweet as a rose
but still rotting with refusal to diffuse
the subtle self-cherishing arising
I see delusions and try to oppose
the inappropriate attention
hooking my senses
guiding me toward inappropriate action
easy to engage for a moment of mild enjoyment
but how much sweeter the treat of her
if you bank with interest for later delight
collected faster with correct imagination
using wise discrimination to do right
saving a virtuous treasure for
an auspicious time, devoid kryptonite
unknown to a non-clairvoyant,
powerful but ignorant mind, like mine
still, I accept that the merit must ripen and
I can find the fruits faster, not by cheating,
but by pure intention and
multiplying with imagination for
immeasurables and always remembering
the tub is the nature of suffering
changing, and misunderstood
Categories
Break the Chain
I no longer wish to meet those
who make me regret my virtue
of course, I can’t excuse my own forfeit of mind
and I never would regret virtuous intention
even when challenged!
Instead, I see clearly that in samsara
there exists no real happiness, no good reputation
no wealth, no status, no good condition
not only failure, misery, and criticism
not only lowly status and painful position
but always departing from what we love
and too often meeting what we hate!
So if i have any regret, it’s saved
for actions throwing me lower than the grave
then I purify completely in three more steps
with reliance, opponent force and firm promise
never again laying claim to hateful mind
never again to drink addictive poisons
never again to grasp, to crave
never again to begin again
the beginningless cycle of suffering
this lifetime I break the chain!
I will die without regret
having used every momently wisely
a cause-creator, achieving true happiness
Categories
New Year’s Promise
If you put your hand in fire
And you feel the burn of flame
Although the pain is karma
You must pull your hand away
When others appear to hurt us
We do so much the same
Although appearance cannot harm us
We still turn and walk away
Now I love and cherish others
To purify these seeds of pain
I will practice taking and giving
And pray and all beings do the same
Categories
For You, Alone
This path is for you, alone
and lonely though it seems
that’s just mistaken awareness
that perceives inherent dreams
For though no self is separate
as ordinary we can’t conceive
the pure joy of our existence
what we gain, all beings achieve
It is said
they tasted the earth
and found it sweet
and that was the birth
of attachment to the food we eat
Attachment to the forms we see
to sounds we hear, scents we smell
to the tactile sensations felt
the gods betrayed us, every one
to attach a pleasurable feeling
to a non-existent tongue
Attachment, hatred
suffering, madness
all parts of the mind
love, compassion
equanimity, gladness
in only virtue will you find
everlasting happiness
Categories
A note from the caterpillar
The caterpillar is nice to visit
… in a way
He smokes his pipe
and blows his opinions
in your face
whether or not you’ve asked for it
But how much more you enjoy Alice
pretty and naive, a human even
quiet and observant, stupid even
(What would it be like?)
The girl and ‘pillar
both approach the end of a cycle transitioning, evolving
but one appears an ugly ascension
better left ignored
the other’s gracelessness is hidden
within, ignored
I am not Alice, a girl
secretive or demanding
wishing for non-blond understanding
I have never been lured
by a white rabbit or a rabbit hole
afternoon naps are not really my thing
and I’m awakening from my daydreams
I am the caterpillar
before it’s eaten by the bird
never to say a butterfly word or whisper
no kisses, no gratuity, no drinks
only brief passers pausing
for wisdom, absurd
or for entertainment to enlightenment
as I age to a disgraceful degree, resisting
before acknowledging
I’ll never fly
I’ll never be seen as
Alice
the caterpillar says goodbye
The Halfwit Writer 