Poem - when i first saw you in the room next door

i

when i first saw you in the room next door
i noticed you looked exactly like the picture i kept seeing of you

as you sat on the small bed i almost was afraid
you were a hologram or dream that would vanish if i made a noise

i wondered if someone was in there -- in you or me
if i was a hologram or a dream that would vanish if you made a noise

i wondered if i would look like a picture of me
if you kept seeing it over and over again in the next room

ii

i gave you a small rock and said
it was a wish fulfilling jewel

a stone of pure dharmakaya
that though ordinary in appearance

was an expression of infinite
purity beyond all compare

you smiled



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8.23.15

for Bhakha Tulku Rinpoche

Poem - in the room looking at you smiling

moving through the unavoidable tears
we end up at a party surrounded by wonderful balloons

the table is set and all we have to do is enjoy
not go down the back stairs to the sticky payphone
and ask to get picked up and dragged back into the night
that will never be knowable and ever end

thus i steady on the path
not cocky nor afraid but my eyes to here
in the room looking at you smiling

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