Hope

In one moment we can live a whole life
Blink and it’s passed you by,
Sing and your life is a voice
Echoed by repercussions of your choice.
I chose to kill my ego and let it rest beside me.
I swallowed my happiness
And it welled in my throat
Then was back out in myo.
In one instant my heart stopped beating,
My mind stopped thinking,
My lungs collapsed into my abs,
I heard you there, I heard you there.
In one breath I was alive again—
With one daimoku awakened.
Then a smile spread my lips
like legs parting in goddess stance.
In happenstance I touched you,
In circumstance I loved you,
In presence I will hold true,
To pure thoughts of happiness for you,
To dreams of chanting with you,
For years to pass and for me to wander
Away, above, around, and through…
And there we are still honoring
The unknowing, unhearing, uncaring way
That the lotus flower follows the path of the sun.
For every seed needs a stamen, so why not be one?

I can’t live with this knowing
That there is room at all to concede
To anything but giving completely over
To love, to love, to love, to love—
And with no need of form or reason
Love cannot blame, love cannot play an ego’s game.
Just as I cannot live with any other thought
Then death is how your loved ones
Become part of you—they feed your roots
You grow, you grow, you grow, you grow.
The maker must then throw a larger pot
You are a seed now, let the sun
Orchestrate this chemical change
This unexplained phenomena
Of enzyme and earth—zygote and womb
Nam myoho renge kyo
I chant when I hurt, I smoke when I can
I burn incense with hope
I sit before a candles glow
With tears in my eyes and a smile
I move my mouth to the sound of fire
I look into a mirror and reflected back
Is a sacred text that tells of my life and my death
I look into a sacred text I see myself reflected back
I see myself as prophet, I refuse to see a liar
I see myself as peace, I refuse to see a soldier
I see myself as hope that you will live to love another.