Basking Poem by Suzanne Hayasaki

I am Buddha with a womb.
Strip me to the skin and set me in the sun.
I will bathe, I will bask, I will bloom.

I have no need of a hermit’s cave.
I am my own conch shell.
Toss me in the sea.
Strand me on the beach.
And still I will sing.

Put me to your ear.
Can you hear me?
I am the wind and the waves.
I am wisdom, curling into the Golden Mean.
I am the flight of the bumblebee
Captured in calculus.

My union with Nature is complete.
I dance under Her canopy.
I float in Her tide pools.
I make snow angels in Her arctic.
She plays Her symphony in silence in my soul.

I accept that there is no order,
At least none that you can detect.
For you, with your telescopes and super-computers,
Are mayflies skimming the surface of puddle water,
Declaring yourselves masters of the universe.
You should see how the higher gods giggle.

The answers are not yours to discover.
They are Hers to bestow.
Present yourselves at Her altar
With true humility,
And you too may see
Eternity.