A Meeting
POETRY FORMAT, 26 Sep 2016
Gary Corseri – TRANSCEND Media Service
When Jesus and the Buddha met
in a meadow of larkspurs, on a balmy day,
the bees of the valley went mad with love,
the sky and the sun were a glaze.
“Let us sit on the grass,” said Buddha.
And they rested their traveling bones.
One in cambric, the other in saffron,
and the air was the color of amber.
“I’ve been to gather the children
who cling to a life of disease.
The ones abandoned in alleys
of harrowing megacities.
“Here are their souls,” Christ said,
pointing to the larkspurs, reaching the high hills.
A breeze blew over the meadow,
rippling the flowers like a banner.
“I,” said the Buddha, “have sat down in silence.
I was that eerie quietude
in the midst of the ratcheting guns
when all that they saw was a mirror,
“and they knew what they had done.”
The bees made a loud buzzing
like the din of an ancient battle.
Then they were still.
“We had nothing to teach, but mercy,” said Christ.
“And patience,” Buddha added.
Then they gathered their belongings and parted
over diverging hills, each alone in his thoughts.
______________________________________
Gary Corseri has published and posted articles, fiction, poems and dramas at hundreds of global venues, including, TMS (Transcend Media Service), The New York Times, Village Voice, Redbook Magazine, The Japan Times and Counterpunch. He has published 2 novels and 2 poetry collections, and his dramas have been produced on PBS-Atlanta and elsewhere. He has performed his poems at the Carter Presidential Library and Museum, and he has taught in universities in the US and Japan, and in US public schools and prisons. Contact: Gary_Corseri@comcast.net.
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 26 Sep 2016.
Anticopyright: Editorials and articles originated on TMS may be freely reprinted, disseminated, translated and used as background material, provided an acknowledgement and link to the source, TMS: A Meeting, is included. Thank you.
If you enjoyed this article, please donate to TMS to join the growing list of TMS Supporters.
This work is licensed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License.
The poem brings the important elements of peace together–beauty, religion and overcoming war. It brings the past, present and future into a momentary meeting of two giants of the spiritual world. The stark contrast of the beautiful meadow of larkspurs and the dark ghetto of megacites and bloody battle scenes questions us about which side of us should be nurtured and should flourish. The ascending hill where Buddha and Christ part is a metaphor towards which each of us will journey to a higher vision and peace.