The shaven head with the smiling face
\nconfident in the gloomy side of shadow,
\nsandaled feet, sun saffron-robed body,
\nwalks out with a begging bowl, empty.
\nWhatever is gathered each day
\nmakes for nourishment, his way.
\n\u00a0
\nMy head remains unshaven,
\nbut my soul wears saffron.
\nMy gait is not so steady,
\nbut my sandals are strong.
\nAnd I, too,\u00a0am out\u00a0begging,
\nto have my bowl filled full.
\n\u00a0
\nWhat does my bowl gather?
\nDoes what comes along
\nadds to what I already know?
\nDoes the mendicant on his knee
\never does anything new?
\nMy bowl holds my knowing and doing,
\nwhich maintain and sustain my being.
\n\u00a0
\nI gather memories, for sure.
\nThey come fully accompanied
\nby atmospheric bewildering,
\non loud and fine canvasses,
\nwild and angelic rendering,
\nof romantic misting rain,
\nof tears of joy and pain,
\nfrom smiling faces,
\nsmell of earthen places,
\nof sounds of laughter,
\nbrothers and sisters all.
\n\u00a0
\nIn Zhongguo\u2019s earth, the taste of dust
\ndelivered in amazing and assuring hugs.
\n\u00a0
\nWhen my day is done,
\nmy bowl is filled, my soul is full,
\na mortal flesh chimes on a goal.
\n\u00a0
\nAnd what is in your bowl?
\n\u00a0
\nIn my mendicant wandering last year,
\nmy heart awe struck and shaken,
\nmy hopes and dreams forsaken,
\nmy body\u00a0gave way\u00a0to aging,
\nset\u00a0fleshly sashay to sagging;
\nwhile\u00a0folks endured their suffering,
\nvoices throve in melodious singing,
\nfamilies had fun, kin spirits ran.
\n\u00a0
\nNew friends in old familiar places,
\nold friends emerged in new embraces,
\npainful political systems in decay,
\nsave us from uncles, we pray,
\ndiverse people choosing to OCCUPY,
\nnew models of sociality to try,
\nclassmates disremembered re-connected,
\nvictims\u2019 lamentations and stories heard
\nflagrant fragrances of atrocities aired.
\n\u00a0
\nAh, I\u2019ve got experiences to describe,
\nexpressed feelings, decibels for the night,
\narticulated thoughts complex and simple,
\nin awe and wonder of common encounters,
\nat once, devastating and full of life,
\nI am pretty nourished, humbled and gratified.
\n\u00a0
\nWe\u00a0heard of a manger 2000 years ago,
\ntruthfully\u00a0imagined,\u00a0inspired, or so,
\nnow we herald echoes of a distant flaring,
\nour\u00a0universe some 14 billion years old,\u00a0
\ntruth sanctifies factual imagining,\u00a0
\nreality embodied, plainly yet boldly told.
\n\u00a0
\nLight, love, life comes through
\nin the discordant sound of the erku,
\naccompanies the gugong in trance,
\nlife\u2019s energy incarnates in dance.
\n\u00a0
\nAgain,
\nempty 2012 bowl is out to gain
\nin another chosen time of turning,
\nthe\u00a0substance of life ever churning,
\nand the causes of our lives, we partake,
\nchances transformed, to undertake,
\nadd the daily\u00a0choices we will make,
\na year-full begging bowl to contemplate,
\nlife\u2019s being, we willfully celebrate.
\nLet\u2019s.<\/p>\n
[I]Jaime R. Vergara (jrvergarajr2031@aol.com)\u00a0previously taught at San Vicente Elementary School in Saipan and is currently a guest lecturer at Shenyang Aerospace University in China.[\/I]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The shaven head with the smiling face
\nconfident in the gloomy side of shadow,
\nsandaled feet, sun saffron-robed body,
\nwalks out with a begging bowl, empty.
\nWhatever is gathered each day
\nmakes for nourishment, his way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-157785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157785\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}