A Japanese Francis and Clare Would Penetrate the Truth

Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem

The monks and abbot snore away beneath

The temple tiles and nearby mountain, calm

In each dimension.  Scenes like these bequeath

Serenity.  They play a chord-less psalm

Sans melody since even music might

Detract from such perfection.  Snores ideal?

Since they are part of solitude’s delight,

Percussion from them gives a signal seal

To men’s attempt to live together, one

And several both at once.  Inside their dreams

They live alone.  The abbess and the nun

Are like them, near, beside their Buddhist streams.

  The streams inside the minds of holy souls

     Have rocks with moss in shapes like begging bowls.

© Phillip Whidden