
Prelude to an Encounter, David Carmack Lewis
Tell Me the Stories
The Buddha’s topknot pierces heaven’s palm.
The Buddha points toward earth and heaven both.
But when I’m lowest, most beset by duties,
The ocean in my memory fans a palm
Along a bay that curves from heaven to earth,
And finds a place for me to sit and listen,
And talks to me like Jesus
under a eucalyptus.
________________
Mark Jarman