muttering whispers
spirit on the wintry winds

ragged rantings
of the ancient dead

shivering
the ravens huddling within their trees

purring
the cats in their warm soft spaces

coughing
the old man in his ragged coat

silent
the crocus bulbs beneath the icy snows

the snow fell down
and the snow fell down
upon the roads and sidewalks

(bless the snow plows
for they are heroes)

an old lady
laden with bags of groceries
struggled up the icy sidewalk
sloped against the side of a mountain

she slipped
she fell
she collected her scattered groceries
she rubbed her elbow

and i felt pity
i felt sadness
i felt duty to my community
to shovel the ice and snow
clear from the sidewalk concrete

shovelling the sidewalk
is service to others
work performed for no monetary reward
indeed
spending money on snow shovels and ice melt salts
net capital outlay for zero income

it is my pleasure
to serve my community
in this very small way
every old woman who does not fall down
is another reward
for citizen snow

the lunar eclipse
is nearing totality
merely a sliver of the moon remains
shrouded in the nighttime mists
dimly red
hiding in the shadows
a momentary flash
blinks on the top left side
meteoroid kisses the dusty regolith
icy patterns snake upon the windows
fed by frigid humid airs
a beggar snores in a vacant doorway
sleeping on the concrete
cap on the ground in front of him
a couple walks by
hand in hand
smiles upon their faces
woman hums a contented tune

silence roars
echoing throughout the canyon
winter winds
chill upon the airs
of those glittering winter wastelands
all sparkling in the setting sun
twinkling spun
footsteps orange within
blue behind
crusted hard in surface snows
crunch crunch crunch crunch
walking to the lake
mountains loom darkly
upon the watery depths
waves ripple gently
bathing frozen sandy shore

if words have five marks..

they are not ill-spoken
but well-spoken
laudable and praised by the wise

what five?

they are spoken at the right time
they are true
they are spoken with gentleness
they are to the point
they are spoken with love

and sol
advanced in age
still put out a good fire
and courted his hidden mistress
brown on black
barely visible against the velvet aethers

sol calmed down as she approached
flares dampened
dirty sunspots stashed away
(for some other day)
all awash with gentler phires

although those canopy rifts
streaming forth their radiant plasmas
gave him dead away

oort and kuiper icelettes danced their wave
strengthened by her gravity pulse

meanwhile

those inhabitants of the earth
continued to spiral chase
a yellow star
they drove their cars
near and far
and tried to save money to die
(less estate taxes of course)

serpent writhes within the skies
electric comets
orbits doth arise

fret ye not
lover of cats
(or dogs, if you’re a dog person)
lover of plants
lover of minerals and rocks and airs..

fret ye not
those laid hidden
deep within the earths

fret ye not
those space-borne within the starships..

this has happened before
this will happen again

a question to the recently displaced soul fragment:
why would you return to a planet named earth?
is that truly
your only option?

oh soul
now that thou art dead
pass ye not
left nor right
but sail on true
clear to that blinding bright

is this a great error..
..to run to the first light that is seen?

the old man withered
rattling within his meat sack
dragging foot in front of foot
lurching his body forward

(what consciousness energizes thusly)

bottle of cider in his hand
staggering along
the railway tracks
paper bag
crinkled from the top

and he beheld the sky
clouds wreathing mountains high
guarding the snow above
from the greenery of the valley below

ripples in the lake
mountains racing towards each other
ending in a V
airs betwixt
reflected in the waters as -V
revealing the futures past
twisting with the future fates

and all of it was meaningless
for it had come and passed before
as surely as it would happen again

fifth dimensional rider gods
were absent on that day
no amount of tinder dry
would strike a fire within the damp

he met a wildman on the way home
yelled an extra-dimensional salute of his name
and the wildman was terrified
jumped back
exclaimed
“do not speak to me this way!”

and onward home he went

simply stated

it is the diamond
that cuts through delusion

and this is a lofty claim
to cut through delusion

the diamond sutra is an ancient text
written in sanskrit
an even more ancient language
also known as
the vajra sutra

you can read it online if you search
there are pictures of gods
some guy known as the buddha
pages and pages of preamble and commentary
maybe 50 pages in you get to the sutra

apparently there are six requirements:

belief, hearing, time, host, and audience

if you are reading this
the requirements are met

you have to get through a lot of preamble
begging bowls and disciples and customs

there are a number of great quotes later in the text:

“They are neither dharmas nor no dharmas.
And why?
Unconditioned dharmas distinguish worthy sages.”

“There is no mark of self,
And no mark of others,
No mark of living beings
And no mark of a life.”

“All conditioned beliefs
Are like dreams.
illusions, bubbles, shadows,
Like dew drops and a lightning flash.”

“If you can have no thought,
you are not attached anywhere.
If you can have no thought,
you can produce that heart
without dwelling anywhere.”

what is the core essence of the diamond sutra?

dwell in the heart
think no thoughts
but there are no thoughts
this is why they are named no thoughts

and the king’s english
influence the inspiration and language

once a wild man said:

‘i care to exist and air and water;
diamond wine’

when i was a child
my parents used to make me go to church
we went to lots of churches
my grandfather disapproved
and i didn’t understand why

i used to wonder how preachers came up with their material
something new every sunday
(even though i didn’t particularly care for it)
i did marvel at their creativity
maybe flop open a book
pick a verse from the holy writ?
make some arbitrary judgements
write a 3-point expository essay about it?
wrap it up with an intro and conclusion
ten minutes per paragraph
queue the band to play more songs
send the good flock off to
some all you can eat buffet
to dampen those guilty sorrows

until one sunday night..

yes, we had to go to church both morning and night sometimes
even wednesdays on occasion
maybe thursday and friday too
if they were trying to stoke a revival

..ah yes
THAT sunday night
the preacher confessed he had no new sermon for us
and i was amazed
scandalized really
(as it was popular to feel that way in those days)

now i understand

this NO THING to say

but there are no things to say
this is why they are named no things to say

(the diamond cutter draws another line)