Born on the Spot

by Shin

 

 

 

 

Even as a child he was unusually gifted,

Perceptive, sensitive to life all around,

Responsive to the needs of others,

Drawing on deep to speak of others' needs,

Even thought he was in contact with the divine,

Knew its thoughts, that they shared a concern,

Together for life and the nature of man.

All this until the day his friend died suddenly,

Then there was that honest man jailed,

For speaking his mind about injustice,

And the sweet neighbor who married tragedy.

Then did the child feel a suspicion in himself,

Did HE see all these and leave it be?

This was the ONE he had cultivated as friend?

He broke with HIM and went his own way,

For the cultivation of a new world,

That understood man and the nature of heart.

Asked the simple questions and found clues,

That suggested a great many things, but mainly,

To ask of himself what he is about and wants,

And to bring his mind and his mind alone,

Not the words of philosophers or the other man,

But his lone mind to answer life's riddle.

Then did the child discover him again,

In both an experience of innocence and knowing.

And to those who ask, to clue them, about themselves.