In zazen, I learn to witness

Myself

The fears and longings

Play in my soma

The questions, I was once too afraid to ask

What is this world?

Who am I?

What is us?

What if you lived in praise

Of earth soils, moist grass, bird seed spilling from its bowl

Of oregon grape flowers

Honeysuckle yellow

Grape hyacinths, magnolia, lavender, jasmine

Cherry blossoms

We share silence together

Every morning

Every evening

In-between bites of food

In-between stories about our lives

We share silence

Come back home

To the heart

The place where seeds take root

And begin to awaken

The source of life

Rests in you

What is it to have an ally

Within one’s self

I meet her

At the place where the forest becomes mountain

Trees, meet boulder

There is a shrine

Hidden behind the noble fir

She is talking about how the deer and other

A portal is a trap-door from one world to the next

Once we consumed them

the tree appeared

As if we were transported

From the world of deadlines

And so much planning

To a place where time was measured

By the depth of moss-cover, dappled light

My tubes are empty.

We are told we must fill them with precious jewels

Precious jewels? I do not have such things as these.