Bonzer Words!: Wesak
...Are all men doomed thus – to become
absurd caricatures of themselves?...
Les Yemm, who is a Buddhist, considers the meaning of life.
Les writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
A day of quiet introspection.
Early winter, the liquidambar leaves
bedewed, bedraggled, leach their
autumn colours into the cool, moist earth.
Incense, candles, the serene face of Buddha
smiling down into the empty Dharma Hall.
A small island in a vast tranquil sea,
I sit and ponder over who I might be.
Whatever I was meant to be seems lost
in what I have become, each act, each thought,
another layer over what I am.
Are all men doomed thus – to become
absurd caricatures of themselves?
The golden haired child in awe of butterflies,
the scent of wallflowers and the velvet beauty
of the rose, became the silver haired man
who looks in awe at children, in awe of
butterflies, wallflowers and velvet roses.
And so, entombed in the chrysalis
of my own Karma, I sit and wait
the tearing of the membrane that will let
me flutter to the wallflowers of the
remainder of my life, before I too
must leach my autumnal colours
into the cool, moist earth.
© Les Yemm
