Bhagavad Gita Rubaiyat, Part XXXIV

11:14-34

And thus Arjuna, wonderstruck, beheld
A vision of the Lord unparalleled,
The hairs upon his arms stood up in awe,
E’en as his heart beyond his bosom swelled.

A million suns could not produce that Light
Which in Its divine glory blessed his sight,
And every atom of creation now
His soul traversed in instantaneous flight.

And in each planet, star and galaxy,
Each particle that is, was, or will be,
The Lord of All was gazing back at him
In neverending love and ecstasy.

The Nuthatch

Upside down,
the world is new.
Your life’s eccentric
point of view
may seem to others
gauche, taboo.
But leave them there,
stuck in their queue,
to gripe, complain,
and cry pooh-pooh.
Though you are inverted,
their hearts are askew.
So carry on!
Your dreams pursue!
And trust your soul
to know what is true,
for no one knows
the truth of you.

[after Kobayashi Issa]

Winter to spring to summer,
day to dusk to night—
balanced and even,
the earth, the moon, the
perfect clockwork of stars
harmonizing. And you—you are
at the center of this whispering
eternal connection. Listen to
it and know that, in this universe, each
one of us is each other.

Three Lunes on a Field Trip

I

Calling my soul

to the temple of freedom,

tulips are blooming.

II

You are powerful,

the river said to me.

Find the sea.

III

After a century,

a new carpet of green

over the goldmines.

Bhagavad Gita Rubaiyat, Part XXXIII

11:2-4
Arjuna said, “O Krishna, Lotus Eyes!
Through Your teachings into bliss I rise,
And yet I long to see You as Your Self—
That boundless Truth behind Your worldly guise.”

11:5-7
The Lord replied, “Arjuna now behold,
As multifarious forms I will unfold
Of worlds and wonders hitherto unknown,
All held within My form of joy untold.”

11:8
“Yet mortal eyes cannot this vision see,
And so, Arjuna, dearest devotee,
For this boon I grant you sight Divine!
Open your inner eye and gaze on Me!”

ceci n’est pas un poème

after René Magritte

The destiny of this wood,
grown and shaped for fire,
is held now in the hand,
its heart a smoldering pyre,
its breath a ring of smoke,
ascending ever higher.

Cleaning the Classroom

Please put the raucous ruckus
back in the debacle bucket,
and the boisterous bangarang
goes in the commotion compartment.
You’ll find the affray and the fracas
both fit in the fiasco file,
and the hubbub and hullabaloo
in the humbuggy hullabacupboard.
To many, too much of a tumult
just brews up a hateful brouhaha,
but just be uproariously orderly,
and you’ll feel less forlornly than formerly.

Bhagavad Gita Rubaiyat, Part XXXII

10:12-18
Arjuna asked of Krishna, “Dearest Lord,
How can Your qualities be ever scored?
How may I come to know You as You are,
And in what forms and aspects best adored?”

10:20
The Lord replied, “O Conqueror of Sleep,
In all created beings I dwell deep
Within their hearts. I their existence sow,
Provide for, nourish, tend and reap.”

10:21-42
“Among celestial orbs, I am the Sun,
The Ganges in each sacred river’s run,
Of things unmoving, Himalayas I,
And true beginning of each thing begun.

“The highest and the best in everything,
The sight in both the seeing and unseeing.
All creation is sustained with but
The smallest piece of My essential being.”

Eclipse

a dark
crescent creeping
reversing our vision
until at last we turn to seek
the light

What's Wrong with the Music?

Too fast a waltz? Switch to Viennese.
Too slow instead? A cross-step suits it well.
And if it isn’t either one of these,
a rotary, or box-step should be swell.
Do slow and heavy backbeats make you blue?
Try nightclub two-step there, instead of swing.
You’ll find there’s always something you can do
to anything the DJ cares to bring.
So take the music as your guide—you’ll find
there’s nothing wrong with anything you hear,
and with Life’s melody become entwined,
trusting that He who sings it holds you dear.

Order of Operations II

Women and children first, perhaps, but dessert not the least if the last.
Measure twice before your horse crosses the bridge too fast.
Be sure to count up all your chickens before you take that leap,
And look at the cart that’s here today when tomorrow it lands in a heap.
If you can save nine when a business bites once then you’ll find that a quick stitch in time
Will spill the milk over the hatching pleasures better late than never twice shy.
So you’d best be born yesterday like there’s nothing gone tomorrow,
And you’ll find you can fit a month of joy into a day of sorrow.
But just circle back at the end of the day, and you’ll find it’s that stage of the game
where whatever you do and whatever you say, it just turns out the same!

Bhagavad Gita Rubaiyat, Part XXXI

5:13
The soul that dwells within and can maintain
Control of senses, faculties and brain,
Over the body’s city of nine gates
Secure in bliss forevermore shall reign.

5:29
He will find peace who knows Me as the One
To Whom devotion’s many streamlets run.
All offerings and sacrifices I
Receive, the dearest Friend of everyone.

Bhagavad Gita Rubaiyat, Part XXX

15:1
The great Ashvatta tree, so say the wise,
Has limbs below and branches in the skies;
Its leaves are made of holy Vedic hymns;
From knowing it, true wisdom may arise.

15:2
Yet, guna-born, by senses fed and held,
This tree by worldly means cannot be felled.
Its roots extend into this world, and thus
To action, good or bad, we are compelled.

15:3-4
Only the sage, by non-attachment pure,
Can fell this tree whose roots will else endure,
And, finding refuge in its Source beyond,
May thus his true security ensure.

Order of Operations

Parentheses, exponents, multiplication,
     division, addition, subtraction;
Passivity, exclusion, mentation,
     discussion, accord, satisfaction;
Power, extremism, mastery,
     diplomacy, amity, safety;
Poetry, expression, mystery,
     discovery, ascension, samadhi.

April Fools

April fools
but May sees through it;
June has tools,
but July will do it;
August the crown
that September wears;
October frowns,
while November swears;
December ends,
so January may start;
and February tends
to March’s heart.