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POETRY

Too Long ddhscape img.jpg

Too Long

Too long have we considered
the drama, the journey,
the seriousness of seeking,
the victory of finding,
the great pretense that
eyes must strain to truly See. 

Too long have we followed
the continual scanning
of mind for bruises, flaws,
neurotic tendencies, the
great need for self-improvement
for a self that doesn't exist! 

Too long have we been striving
to be always more perfect--
perfectly free, perfectly healthy,
perfectly realized,
perfect embodiment of truth,
perfect puppet of spiritual ego! 

It's time to dance with joy,
to spread our wings and fly,
to relish each moment of living
without judgment of whether
it should or should not be
what it clearly is! 

Let's fall on our faces in the mud,
and lick the earth off our lips!
Let's smile at the next person we see.
Let's stop pursuing and start receiving
the fullness of this life,
the only one that's happening. 

Too long have we indulged the
frightened one, standing on the shore,
afraid of drowning in a sea of love,
afraid to let go of old grievances,
old habit patterns of mind
that have not delivered what we'd hoped. 

What if there is no place to arrive?
No nirvana apart from samsara,
no heavenly chorus welcoming us home,
no cheering bodhisattvas at graduation
into the second or tenth or thousandth
level of Reality? 

What if this breath is enough?
this moment is enough,
these tears of sorrow or joy are enough?
What if tomorrow never comes
because life is always now?
What if we simply stopped!

© Dorothy Hunt
Photo courtesy of Nina Cherington

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