Thursday, August 25, 2005
Three poems
I wrote these poems last spring, and had forgotten them until I happened to come across them again yesterday. (If I have published them previously, my apologies--it is sometimes hard to keep track.) They are poems of ecstasy, which, according to the Tibetan Buddhists, is the companion of wisdom and compassion. This notion was confirmed for me again this morning when I looked at an illustration from the wall of the Dalai Lama's secret temple in the Portala. The wall mural depicted a seated Buddha in samadhi beside another picture of wild dakinis with heads of animals, dancing in furious rapture.(See "The Dalai Lama's Secret Temple" on Amazon to look at the illustration.) These wall paintings are said to reveal the innermost secrets of the Tibetan path to illumination. They have been carefully guarded from the public eye, lest viewers misunderstand the message. Clearly, the message pertains to the ultimate union of opposites--inner rapture and compassion.
When I wrote "Unmasking the Rose," I referred often to the "meditation of tranquillity" and the "meditation of ecstasy." I think I was attempting to understand the difference as well as the connection between these two states of being.
Someone Is Saying Mantras
When the body
is tuned to the spirit,
they both lie down together
and make naked love
for a thousand years,
in the night which passes
like a single inbreath
of time.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
All I can say is,
I know who you are.
You have been here,
beside me,
from the very first,
o, so long ago.
Now you are touching
my wrist again,
stroking my cheek
with you invisible hand
to tell me you have come.
Once again, in terror,
I enter your
secret dwelling.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
All night long
we two made shameless love.
Kissing and embracing,
we unveiled each other’s
hidden heart.
Now it is daylight
and you are still here.
Soon the mistress of the house
will come
to open the courtyard gate.
Someone is already
saying mantras
in the next room.
copyright, Dorothy Walters
