Come, Let Us Sit Below This Tree... Poem by Raj Arumugam

Come, let us sit below this tree.

Calm and at peace, come with me, if you will, and let us sit below this tree.

In the shade of this tree then, you and I, without preconceived notions, with no memory of our ambitions and our plans and the schedule for tomorrow, and with no memory of what I think you are and what you think I am, with no expectations, with no past, and with no future – no distant future, and with no immediate future in our mind - without bias and prejudice, come, let us sit then below this tree.

And watch. Just see.

There is you, there is me and there is this tree. And the earth we sit on. And the grass that spreads out before us.

Come, let us sit below this tree.

And watch. Just see.

There is the tree and all the creatures that rest on it and the two creatures that rest below it; and the creatures that live below in the burrows and in the caverns layers below.

And there is the sky and the creatures that are visible to us, and those too far or too small or too minute for us to see.

Come, let us sit below this tree.

And we sit with these creatures and all this life.

And the bountiful earth, in its massive and outstretched hands, the earth holds its magic before us. The hill slopes down, and the lakes and the trees and the boulders are before us; and the tiny creatures and the villages and the humbled figures live their lives, and they spend out their time; and you and I, you and I sitting below this tree, we are their witnesses.

In the shade of this tree then, you and I, together we sit and thus we watch and see this world before us; thus we watch without preconceived notions, with no memory of our ambitions and our plans and the schedule for tomorrow; and with no memory of what I think you are and what you think I am, and what we think this world before us is; with no expectations, with no past, and with no future – no distant future, and with no immediate future in our mind - without bias and prejudice, thus we sit and the world, and the earth, and the sky, these watch us back. We love them, and they love us back.

And there are the creatures. And there is life. And there is expansive space. And is there time too? Is there time? Do you see? The creatures and all beings in all space and in all time, all the lives that have come, and that have passed; and all the beings and all the lives that are and that pass; and that will come and that will pass – is there time? – all these are before us. And we before them.


Who watches who? Who is before whom? In this space and time, who and what is where?

Thus we watch.

And all the creatures are there. And all the living things and that which does not live but that supports life, and just about everything before us and behind us, and below us and within us, and without…

Then they cease. At least for a while. Do you cease? Do you see me?
In the shade of this tree then, you and I, together we sit and thus we watch and see this world before us; thus we watch without preconceived notions, with no memory of our ambitions and our plans and the schedule for tomorrow; and with no memory of what I think you are and what you think I am; and what we think this world before us is; and with no expectations, with no past, and with no future – no distant future, and with no immediate future in our mind - without bias and prejudice, thus we sit and watch; and the world, and the earth, and the sky, these watch us too. And we love the world, and it loves us back.


Now, yes, you must go. We must all go. It is time to do as you see fit.

Go in peace.

No, you need not make a memory of this.

For one always sits below a tree with one's fellows, and with all life within and without.

Go in peace.

You need not speak of this. For to describe it is to corrupt it.
For to speak of it is to trivialize it.
You need not make a memory of this.
For the one who sees always sits below the tree with one's fellows, and with all life, within and without.

Go in peace.