Before…
you cling.
You cling to hopes and fears
and even people
without realizing
what you’re doing.
The Teacher says:
“Pull that straw out of their neck!
And out of yours while you’re at it!
Stop leaking life force.
The Age of Vampires is over!
Forget any notion
of enemies.
Your only jihad,
your only struggle,
is with yourself.
Until you burn the ego
once and for all
everything
will feel
like moving mountains
from one side of the world to the other.”
AFTER
After…
there is no peace like it.
Victorious-Through-Surrender
you see
there never really was a battlefield.
You melt all your swords
and turn your words
into iron.
Then,
yes really does mean yes,
no is just…no,
and no explanation is needed.
BEYOND
Traveling is so simple after that.
You become a child again,
smiling
as you work
as a shoe shiner,
rubbing out
the tears and scuffs
for your fellow travelers.
You become a quiet prospector
mining for diamonds
being shaken loose
in the honey stream
gushing from your chest.
Then, you wear an invisible cloak
and keep a secret name,
and you sit and speak
with every person
as if they were
a king or a queen.
—- Frank Owen
