[ARTS]: Big and Little Poetry--free verse, any verse.

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  • Noel
    Member
    • May 2025
    • 25

    Hi!

    I have been writing poetry and prose since I was little. It’s wonderful to have this section—thank you!
    Here are some excerpts from poems I wrote some years ago. I selected the pieces that feel most connected to this practice.
    Since I originally wrote them in Spanish, I used DeepL to translate them. Next time, I’ll share just one. I apologize for the length.

    Gassho,

    Noel

    Sat-lah


    Walking aimlessly, I discover who I am, just a leaf that moves with the wind, slips and falls, and disintegrates to become part of the earth that is born again.
    I am just a small being that moves and feels and screams, or am I something else? Maybe I am also the leaf and the sky and the water and the laughing children and the ants and the grass and the dog, and I am you, I am also you.
    Walking aimlessly, I realize that there are no fears, no worries, no future, no past, no distance, no sorrow, no death.
    That there are no problems, no beginnings, no endings. There is only today, only this moment in which I look at you and I see myself, and time does not exist, because we are eternal, and tomorrow we will be a leaf that disintegrates on the ground to be born birds and fly.


    .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. ...............................

    And the universe fit in a nutshell...
    The whole universe, reflected in that smallness. Then I realized that in you I could also find the universe, that you contained everything.
    That you walked with the universe in you without realizing it. When you smiled, when you went to work, when you woke up in the morning, when you talked to me, and when you were silent.
    And I realized, you were so complex and profound, and so wonderfully amazing precisely because of that. Sadly, I thought that I might never be able to take you all in, to think you over, and capture you all in one thought. I never could.
    I could, yes, surround you, be a wreck on your surfaces. But to see you all at once, whole, with these small worldly eyes, that I could never do. Not just look at you, see you! meet you!
    If the universe fits in a nutshell, then? If you are also the universe, then.... Maybe I will never find you but only when I melt in the darkness of your eyes, in that abyss that seems to have no end. Maybe only at that moment your universe will meet mine, and there will be something almost like a cosmic explosion.


    .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. ..............................................

    You are with me at nightfall, you watch with me as the first star shines. You are with me when I wake up and when I wake up, you wake up with me too. If I stir the morning coffee, there you go, sailing in the coffee. I hold you in the spoon so you don't sink in. But suddenly I get inspired and I lose you because I let my fingers type the letters. And now you're in every period and every comma; other times you're just space between letters. Even if I don't talk about you, even if I write that the day is beautiful or that it's raining cats and dogs outside, it's you who are in the sun and the rain, it's you who are in the clouds that dissipate in the wind. It is you who flies in that bird that landed on my balcony a while ago. It looked at me with those eyes of having seen everything. But it was you there, and you flew away. And now you are in the falling afternoon and in the rainwater left wetting the garden tiles. You're there, and I'm sure I see your reflection in that puddle. Now, a drop falls right in the middle of your face. Don't laugh. I'm watching your face transform into perfect waves of black puddle. A black so beautiful that it makes your eyes shine like stars. Don't look at me like that, or I won't be responsible if I fall in love with a dirty puddle abandoned by the rain. You laugh, I know you laugh, because the waves expand and your eyes become cloudy. It's just that love has these silly things. Suddenly, you're looking at a puddle (not to mention a tile) and you get caught up in contemplating the world in something you thought was so superfluous. And then I, who am such a fool, could end up falling in love with you, puddle, and with that tile you carry inside you. And with the rain that made you, and with the cloud mixed with the air, and with the coffee smoke that surrounds you and helps you wake up with me every morning.

    Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
    Last edited by Noel; 06-07-2025, 12:42 PM.
    There is only One Being.

    Comment

    • Jundo
      Treeleaf Founder and Priest
      • Apr 2006
      • 42330

      ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

      Comment

      • Kokuu
        Dharma Transmitted Priest
        • Nov 2012
        • 7260

        Lovely! Thank you so much for sharing those with us, Noel.

        The man who initiated this poetry thread, a poet himself, passed away last month so thank you for keeping this part of the forum alive.

        Comment

        • Noel
          Member
          • May 2025
          • 25

          Thank you Kokuu, for letting me know. I was wondering if he was alive.
          I guess he is alive in this section, surrounded by poems.

          Gassho,

          Noel

          Sat-lah
          There is only One Being.

          Comment

          • Noel
            Member
            • May 2025
            • 25

            I share another of my poems. The original in Spanish sounds much better, but I hope the meaning is preserved. I translated it with Copilot AI.
            Thank you for reading.

            Gassho,

            Noel

            Sat-lah

            Do you step where flowers are born?

            Love is that which sprouts at the feet of trees.
            That which begins small and then spreads.

            It is what seeks the light.
            Pushing forward,
            propelling itself from within,
            banishing all darkness.

            Along the way,
            it is destroyed,
            and thus it is reborn.
            Then, as it breaks and twists,
            between the wound and the spilled sap,
            a new little branch emerges
            —strong, small.

            And then it stretches,
            it stretches,
            it stretches,
            it expands,
            it breaks.

            Only to once again be a fresh sprout,
            a tiny bud,
            where a flower will bloom.

            One you barely see,
            barely feel.
            That dies there in silence
            beneath your weary feet.

            As you walk,
            I would like you to realize
            — you step where flowers are born.
            There is only One Being.

            Comment

            • Kaitan
              Member
              • Mar 2023
              • 614

              Thank you for reviving this thread. I missed it.


              Kaitan - 界探 - Realm searcher

              Comment

              • Seikan
                Member
                • Apr 2020
                • 730

                Hi Everyone,

                I recently stumbled upon the following poem I wrote about a year or so ago and suddenly felt the urge to share as it feels timely on many levels, at least to me. I hope it resonates for you as well.


                Origin of All Wars

                Violence begins at home
                before a single word is spoken
                we tear open a rift
                in the delicate fabric
                of time and space
                a waxing wound
                destined to fester
                never truly healing
                an unforeseen casualty
                of the weapons we wield
                for there is nothing more lethal
                than these thoughts of ‘me’
                and ‘you’


                Gassho,
                Seikan

                sat/lah
                聖簡 Seikan (Sacred Simplicity)

                Comment

                • Kaitan
                  Member
                  • Mar 2023
                  • 614

                  Eating, hearing the trucks passing by
                  not far from here, only in the next galaxy cluster
                  another being is pondering the same
                  what is this place?, how lucky to be here
                  I trust



                  stlah, Kaitan
                  Kaitan - 界探 - Realm searcher

                  Comment

                  • MagnificentTreeFrog
                    Member
                    • Feb 2025
                    • 6

                    Songbirds expound the dharma / without rank or title / the passing day is just so / this one listens and learns
                    Adam

                    Comment

                    • Kaitan
                      Member
                      • Mar 2023
                      • 614

                      Too heavy to carry around
                      These boots full mod and sorrow
                      Sadness, pain and suffering
                      Is being strong necessarily to know this
                      Too soft to walk in these rocky lands
                      Full of despair and tragedy
                      How much more is necessary to stand this
                      To wake up and be gentle
                      With self and others
                      Not two



                      stlah, Kaitan
                      Kaitan - 界探 - Realm searcher

                      Comment

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