Absolute Beginner

Photo credit: Hans. CC0/Public Domain license.
“Beginner’s Mind”: the phrase
a gift from old Zen-man
Suzuki Roshi,
carried in my pack
these years.

After traveling
so many roads,
discovering inspiration
and beauty never suspected,
right inside “me”

once the hard shell
of the ego-bubble
had been softened
by suffering,
then dissolved
in pure Love.

The roads
so long, so
winding
led this hand
to dab magic
onto canvas,

led angels at times
to speak through my pen

and even brought forth songs
lyrics fully formed, complete with melody:

all of it
a mere witness
to what is

outside
the blinding
bubble.

But the bubble, too,
is resilient, or at least
more veils await
the intrepid wayfarer,

and the world of beauty
seems to wither once again
and one finds oneself
bubble-wrapped as if
never born,

once more with no idea
how to get out;
but this time
one leg up because of
the memory
of having previously experienced
it is possible!

And so,
damn the labels,
“writer who can’t write,”
“painter who can’t paint!”

One is simply
a beginner

and always will be,
for there is no “me”
except the veil,

and the Infinite
is always
just beyond—

And LOVE
will dissolve it
every time!
Creative Commons License
Except where otherwise noted, the content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.