“My deep dream is to be
An invisible bodhisattva
No web-site with bells and whistles
No 2,000 friends on Facebook
No acclaim
Fame or melodrama
No awards
No tributes
But with the Jedi power to disappear
For the ego to disappear that is
(Even for 14 seconds
Or less)
A bodhisattva made up
Of non-bodhisattva elements–
Mustard, milk crates, Carmex,
Hill Street Blues, cracked sidewalks, Beverly Hills Cop—
A satyagrahi with 20/20 spiritual vision
The cashier hasn’t a clue who intervened in the nick of time
The best friend of stray dogs
The listener to the loneliest people on the planet
The accompanier of alienated residents
And resident aliens
The ennobler of all social workers
Bereft even of a memory of self-care
The flesh and blood answer to the one who sings
‘Show me the meaning of the word!’
(Gravitating to the Gloria Gaynors
Who can’t ever believe they’ll survive)
Rider on our equivalent of trains but 4th class
Ever unremarkable
Common as the air
Plain as chapatti
A bodhisattva with compassion for all goofy-eyed groupies
A grandfather you wouldn’t even notice at the corner of Fourth and Fellini
One with the Way
Befriender of the Flow
Who doesn’t disparage a single soul
For who knows what nightmare she’s living out
A bodhisattva unfazed
By the tornado there on the horizon
A beginner bodhisattva
Who only writes down this deep dream
For Srimatjii who is so far away
And to himself as a reminder
Gaté, gaté,
Paragaté,
Parasamgaté
Bodhi, Svaha!”
from work-in-progress, Our Heroic and Ceaseless 24/7 Struggle against Tsuris
