A Question for the Buddha
by
James Shammas
(Age: 44)
copyright 06-08-2006
Age Rating: 10 to 127
A dying bird--a blackbird--falls freely.
The still, silent pond receives it. Both are there
in a stopped and sudden splash--a sound,
a sign immutable, but ever mutable
for the stupefied, the world-weary, the down-trodden
who mourn, as humans do, with abject silence:
the bird--the pond--waiting...
Both are assigned a gnarled knot of Time,
an epitaph etched in stone--a gnarled knot of Time
faintly scratched in chalk-white bone,
a powder on the dark black rolling sea,
the slowly rolling flowing sea
which neither frets nor pants for the baptismal font,
nor lays claim to the setting sun, shooting one last spark,
leaving the darkness wearing the dark...
So I ask: how does one sit? Where does one stand
when sitting alone--alone--with our stopping,
our speeding, our poor mincing of Time?
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Once I built a man made him strong, where did I fail, once I built a word made it short, some how it failed, once I kept a picture strong and free, a circle formed, once I created me, where did I go wrong..So it is life, a great write.. Walt
This is such a sad, but wonderful poem. Your writing style always flows so easily and engulfs the reader in your words and images. This is another great write.
For me, great poetry has to "make sense" on an intuitive level. Even the author sometimes cannot explain it. For example, I felt the last stanza in this poem to be particularly beautiful and, to me, just "sounds right" in conveying the need to accept Life on Life's terms. Modern contemporary poetry is often like this, in my view. Again, thanks all, for the comments!
I have come back several times to reread this...for some reason it repels yet attracts at the same time. What I see in the end is that no matter what heights are reached the same fate awaits all. the end of existence is inevitable. I also think that your reference to the falling bird as a blackbird has a deeper meaning. The poem also has religious/spiritual undertones that need to be contemplated. Altogether an interesting, deceptively complex poem and I still don't know if I like it or not!
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