First seven

for Buddha

I think the Buddha
would have liked the sea
seeing impermanence in it's enormity

rising and falling, like the passing of breath
ebbing and flowing, just as life into death

I think the Buddha
would have liked the sea
a worhty place to sit
viewing distant, new horizons
from a shoreline sand carpet

A Heart Unbound

A heart unbound
A mind unleashed
To all the worlds between

The emptiness
We thought we saw
Was just another dream

A dewdrop 
In a waterfall
Embracing that one moment

Merges again
From whence it came
Without a trace of lament

The red rose blossoms
Always red
The sun shines its brilliant glow

Upon us beings
United here
On our lonely planet below

Of all that’s here
There’s only one
So ignorant as us

Unable to see
With vision clear 
We’re creating only dust

Mu (Tailspin)

Throughout and within
a chaotic transmission
unable to tether
this unstable condition

seemed we were there
apparently not!
time for creativity
to untie the knot

sublime and at peace
put our demons to rest
in deluded contentment
we're put to the test

swirling and reeling
through time and through space
the forces of change
were right in our face

believing we'd made it
then faced with hard knocks
time once again
to start seeking the ox

Succession

How would a delusion
reveal itself to one?
not knowing if it’s fact
or if another has begun

delving deep into the psyche
obliterating worlds unknown
to see beyond the darkness
where the air’s as cold as stone

freed among confusion
body and mind,     one
falling through eternity
…my journey’s just begun

On a bench

In darkness and lonely
contemplating fate
day and night, now together
realizing too late

the futility of existence
in all manner and form
from time everlasting
since the moment we’re born

I look ever deeper
through the onion I peel
finding satisfaction that
the darkness    
                     knows
                                  how 
                                            I
                                                feel

The River of Suffering

To cross the bridge in front of me
I know I must look back
and see times of serenity
which keep me here, on track

The great uniting mystery
holding us, here, in place
To cross the bridge ahead of me
I set a record pace

Letting go of what I’ve been told
How to act, think, and see
Allows me to observe at once
the bridge in front of me

cosmos

gliding down the crystal shards
emanating from the clouds
landing on a mountaintop
from peak to peak I bound

forest firs and juniper
majestic mighty oaks
ash and birch among the list
of creations in my cloak

before time began, roaming free
in absolute peace and love
decided upon a world anew
released it from my glove

a big, hot mess, how it began
cooled slowly over time
congealed to stone, water and sand
masterpiece of the sublime

life sprang forth upon the rock
that many call their home
for millennia now they keep repeating
the same destructive tome

not realizing the deep connection
to all universal matter
perhaps one day something will change
this practice they will shatter

break apart the separation
felt within for so long
embracing one another
compose a new world song

All poems are the work of Don Benoit, the Blue Collar Buddhist. 2021