The Many Lifetimes of Shibui

Ageless, timeless

A troubadourin, wanderlust, a spirit

A foundling, a disciple, a teacher

A dreamer, ever detached, always connected

She roamed across freely

Jumping latitudes

And seeking truths

 

For Shibui

What was, what is, and what then

All merged into one mystique

A seamless plain

The sky stretched between those plains

The rivers flowed into the next

The mountains occupied the spaces in between

 

The prophets, the messiahs, the stoic, the learned

Wise men that patterned stars

The Awakened and the dead

Warriors that wore helmets and slayed

Who showed paths to open paradises?

And lights out of dark caves

In search of angels

They lead Shibui through unknown forms

They lead her through many minds

 

She sought and searched

Through soaring sea gulls

Through euphoric tunes of love and celebrations

Through moving images

Still frames

Through words, verses unwritten

The poets said her children were not her children

They spoke of god’s debris

They used parallels, and anthology

On souls that grew and embraced  

 

She battled with first and second mind

Sometimes fearing her own compassion

She dreamt for her and for others

Restless, restful, heeding, uncaring

Sometimes fettered, sometimes unbound

When duty compelled

When perceptions demanded

Through judgements and justifications

When ignorance was traded for bliss

She asked the prophets why

She gave up, she returned

She lost, she sometimes found

 

Was her life destined?

Or were the equations always balanced?

Through simple formulas of this and that

And through them she would see

The pilgrims found their swords on rough paths

The warriors through dawn breaking on deserts

The old woman through the devil walking into villages

Her life long over, as she waited to pass

The alchemist in the quest for treasures of love and wisdom

As he climbed five mountains

And prayed to his gods

Through lifetimes and experiences

In search of the truth

 

She walked with them

She spoke to them

And learned of love and truth

That cowardice is not just about lack of courage

But of unfulfilled dreams

Life is an illusion the great master said

She learned that destiny was a choice which

Weaves through all of her lifetimes

To choose her path and finally see

What the purpose was meant to be.

Reviews

[DrD]

Anu, what can I say to you? In a world obsessed with television written to a sixth grade level, there comes along someone like you that makes calling your work "profound" an insult. This is true mastery of an art and you should be proud not that you produced this work, but that you have cultivated a mind that creates such concpets and images.

[Anu Biswas]

DrD, how inspiring your words. I am blessed to have a reviewer like yourself. This poem was written as a tribute to Paulo Coelho, whose books I read and gasped with joy. I had finished reading his entire works and this piece just flowed out of my head in one go. I thank you for reading my work and hope to show you more.

[M Breen]

The lines
"She battled with first and second mind
Sometimes fearing her own compassion"
were my favourite.

Unusual (but good) to see that the heroic subject that transcends mortality and "latitudes" is feminine.

Compelling piece. Wish I knew who/what Shibui was/is.

[Mauricio Montoya]

It looks like you’ve given this a lot of thought in this piece,
Great tribute.