Two Old Men Poem by H L Pham

A tired old man
Tortured in the flesh,
Oppressed in the mind.
Imprisoned in a crowded cell,
He remained free,
Unbroken but exhausted.
In his dying breath,
To a close friend, he whispered:
"Let it go! "
Forgiving was all
He ever wanted for the traitor.
Mind blank,
Heart empty,
To Nirvana he departed.
Namo Amitabha
Namo Buddhaya.

***

Every day in a solitary cell,
an old, weary priest
shackled to a concrete bed,
read his tiny Bible,
concealed in his pocket.
For that,
he endured vengeful tortures.
In his last breath,
as his skull hit the concrete floor
did he say a prayer
To his tormentor's soul?
Rest in Peace,
Father! .
'... it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen'