The way of the cloud
(For Tom)
But please, remember me fondly
I heard from someone you're still pretty
And then they went on to say that the pearly gates
Had some eloquent graffiti. Sam Beam
In every mouthful of food
In every look of love
In every chiding and every making up:
This sometimes bay of tranquillity,
This harbour to which we return,
This shelter from all the storms and squalls of life,
This goddess who sails with us as we traverse the wild seas of experience,
Are part of Tibetan Buddhism, Dharmakaya,
The ultimate nature of the fully enlightened mind,
Is a union of pure appearance and emptiness
And leaves me cold. I’d rather make do and mend..
Not to seek nirvana is a blessing
It allows me to be who I am – unsure, sceptical -
Yet wanting so much for the purpose of life
Not to be bound by the grave, nor in any endless cycle
Of reincarnation: for I am what I am and I can be no other.
Others can question this acceptance. I cannot.
I have no specific desire to pursue
I wish to live as fully as I can
Avoiding those nets of race, nationality and religion
I follow the way of the cloud
As I drift towards the endless horizon.
John Marks
Mon 3rd Oct 2022 20:24
Thank you Flyntland, H@yl3y, Stephen, Holden and Frederick you are all very kind.
“How sweet the morning air is! See how that one little cloud floats like a pink feather from some gigantic flamingo. Now the red rim of the sun pushes itself over the London cloud-bank. It shines on a good many folk, but on none, I dare bet, who are on a stranger errand than you and I. How small we feel with our petty ambitions and strivings in the presence of the great elemental forces of Nature!”
― Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories, Volume I