What I Have Understood

Something that is already known by babies, lunatics & monks

Photo by Alexander Jawfox on Unsplash

What I have understood a baby already knows,
so do lunatics, lovers, and monks.

We are all born radiant, holy and divine,
Buddhas of the great beyond,
then, slowly, with almost no warning,
we enter the Great Amnesia,
a lifetime spent looking for a key we never lost
to open a lock that was never closed
to open a door that does not exist.

Wardens to ourselves, we rattle our cage,
complain about the food
and count the days until we are free,

while in the very next room,
(a flamenco dancer poised at the entrance),
the most outrageous party in the world is going on,
everyone laughing and singing
and rising as they move across the floor
like endless bubbles
from a newly opened bottle of champagne.

(Excerpted from “Unspoken Word: Love Longing & Letting Go.”)