Three More Zen Poems

Three More Zen Poems

(2)

“Zen Only Takes a Minute”

Good morning, fellow traveller.

Or afternoon, if that applies.

Care to join me 

In a little zen?

Okay, get comfortable.

Relax.

Empty your mind.

Now, take a deep breath.

Hold it…

Breathe out.

Breathe In. 

Hold it…

Breathe out.

In.

Hold…

Out.

Think of nothing 

But your breathing

Breathe In… 

Hold it…

Breathe out.

In… 

Hold…

Out.

There. 

Feel better?

Perhaps for a moment

You’ve stilled the monkey noises

In your head.

That was easy, wasn’t it?

Zen only takes a minute

To learn.

A lifetime to master.

(3)

“No Internet, Plenty of Zen”

No internet this morning.

But surprise surprise we didn’t panic.

Our world didn’t collapse.

After all, we’ve still got our health

And our golden house 

With rocket car in the garage.

There’s a nice

Zen garden in the back, too,

Just a few steps from my office,

Where I’ve spent many happy hours.

So, I put my computer to sleep

And went outside

With an eye of zen

(Which is to say an eye of love!)

To take photographs

Of flowers and plants 

And things from nature,

So close at hand.

Because beauty is everywhere,

If we would just see it.

Like zen is.

Hmmm, no internet, eh?

Good!

Think I’ll knock off

And head for a garden.

See you tomorrow.

(4)

“Morning Zen”

With the morning sun 

I feel my zen rising.

I suppose I’m a morning person, 

As they call it.

But really I’m just a person.

Morning, noon or night.

I have my victories and defeats.

Like you do.

One day I’ll be dead.

Then it won’t matter 

Which was which.

And if it won’t matter 

Which was which after I’m dead,

Why would it matter now?

Zen!

“For A Minute There I Was Worried”

I found some zen in my garden today.

But that’s no trick.

I find some every time

I enter my garden.

It’s a beautiful place filled with love.

Summer or winter.

Dawn or dusk.

Empty and quiet,

Or loud and full of life!

My garden is loaded with good zen!

After all, 

Zen and love

Are the same thing.

Or perhaps two sides of the same thing.

So I use it extravagantly while I’m there,

Blowing it all on the good life!

Wasting it like it was money

Or something equally valueless.

And I take all I want

In a huge doggy bag 

When I leave, too.

Ha! Ha!

It’s like I was

A zen-dog millionaire!

Hmmm.

Now I’m worried.

Is this a sustainable practice? 

Should I be conserving my zen?

Am I possibly using too much?

How much is there?

Will it last?

Will there be enough zen to keep me

And comfort me in my old age?

Yikes!

At the rate I’m going, 

(Extravagant fool  

That I am!)

There won’t be enough 

To last me more than,

Let’s see… multiply by eight, carry the two,

Hmmmm,

About four trillion years!

Give or take a few hundred millions.

Phew!

For a minute there

(A very un-zen-like moment!)

I was worried.

But I’m okay now.

Four trillion years.

A four followed by twelve zeros.

Four thousand thousand thousand thousand.

4X10 to the power of 12.

Anyway one looks at it,

That’s a lot of time.

More time (by far) 

Than the universe has existed,

So they believe.

But just to make sure,

The way time flies around here

And the way I go through the stuff,

I’d better get to my zen garden again pretty soon.

And stock up now for later.

Hmmm. 

Now, where did I

Put that

Doggy bag?

“It Don’t Pay to Eat Too Much on an Empty Stomach”

“It Don’t Pay to Eat Too Much on an Empty Stomach”

It don’t pay to eat too much 

On an empty stomach.

No, nor to slumber too long 

When you’ve been without sleep.

And how about the one that advises

Not drinking too much 

When you’ve been without water for a while

And you’re really thirsty?

Old wives’ tales?

Or good advice?

Hmmm.

With zen,

Where with most things 

Moderation is the gentle goal,

Less is more.

So it’s probably good advice.

By the way.

If it don’t pay to eat too much 

On an empty stomach,

Does it pay to think too much

With an empty mind?

“Evil Zen?”

See no evil,

Hear no evil,

Speak no evil.

Wonderful idea!

But wait a minute…

If that’s how you are,

With no evil to speak, see, or hear,

(And let us not forget our other senses,

For the touching and smelling and tasting of evil),

Then you must be dead.

Because evil, 

Which in this imperfect world

We call suffering,

Is all around us all the time,

And cannot be avoided

At any cost.

From the tiniest ant to the mighty elephant,

And every other living thing as well,

(Including and especially humans),

We all must suffer.

Thank goodness for zen!

A way to find a way

To begin to understand 

The true state of things,

And with this understanding

Make adjustments

To your thinking

In order to live 

A happier life.

Another wonderful idea!

After all,

Doesn’t Happiness

Destroy Evil?

Or at least make it wish

That it hadn’t gotten

Out of bed that morning?

So don’t worry about evil.

Who cares what it smells like?

Or anything else about it!

Get over it.

You’ve got bigger fish to fry.

Learn to unattach yourself 

From the things around you,

And then when you’ve learned that,

Unattach yourself 

From yourself.

Remember there is an unlimited 

Amount of zen in the universe!

Enough for the Happiness

Of everybody!

Take all you need.