Testi Hidden - Mercan Dede

Hidden

One…\nOne Buddha is enough\nOne…\nOne Buddha is not enough\nOne…\nBuddha is enough\nOne…\nOne is Buddha\nOne…\nI am breathing now for an old Buddhist monk\nSmall as the first moon\nHidden in the stillness of the heron’s breathless, emerald wing\nAnd for the yoga that Christ taught\nOn his Tree of Love.\nThough the sun may sit like a chariot on stilts of flame and cherry glass\nSuffering into happiness\nThe way of empty hands\nChanting the secrets that make it bright.\nAnd the wicked,\nIn that Palace of Ruins,\nCurse the pureness\nIts purse of one coin.\nThe small shadows of this day we are given\nBolted into the thrush of emptiness\nAnd here on a Dantean hill,\nConfusions may brew\nWhen the Tea-singers begin their vows of silence.\nIn the raiment of this town\nNot of the sun’s rising\nA tear of sadness for all the worldly joy\nAs moths return to their torched graves\nAnd springs arrive early in every season\nTelegraphed into their own heart of good fortune\nChanting, «One Buddha is not enough.»\nBuddha.\nSprings arrive early in every season.\nOne Buddha is enough.