A Note to the Buddha

Life is full of suffering
but it's also full of joy,
and there's nothing so over-worldly
as authoritarian morality
and cookie-cutter souls worshipping false ideals
while violence and depravity rule the real world,
the only world there is

We are only re-born metaphorically
and there's no escaping this;
The universe poses its challenges
and we all must make our choices
and give answer:
before old age, sickness, and death
(neither a cross nor a crescent
nor an orange cloak will protect you from these,
though a brave heart and a bare bodkin
are some remedy for two)

Somewhere in your heart,
perhaps you knew this:
perhaps you also knew
that man is just a tool-bearing beast
not easily given to order or compassion,
and that desire for philosophical truth
is even rarer than the capacity for it

But my eyes are open:
Let Rahu eat the moon
while I eat steak,
and then we will drink the wine
you forbade...
and recite poetry through the night

Rahu and I will seduce women
and then fight over them...
until I slay him with a sword
but only hours later,
he shall rise as the re-incarnated sun,
next dusk he shall sink into monastic mountains,
and next night again eat the moon

This shall happen for billions and billions of nights:
men shall ride elephants and tame dogs,
ants shall conquer men and be eaten by beetles,
airplanes shall cross oceans and occasionally fall,
cities shall be built for hundreds of years
and crumble for thousands
(perhaps even on Rahu's shining feast,)
Kings and Caesars shall rise and fall
and turned to clay plug holes in the houses of beggars

Ah, and I know what you will answer,
maybe correctly:
"You think too much. Meditate and chant OHM, OHM, OHM.
Eat a healthful diet, and be moderate in all things;
Also, I told you wine would bring suffering."

But life is full of suffering,
and I am full of life