Anonymous wrote:
POEMS OF THE BUDDHAS OF OLD
I
The boys were sittin
In a grove of trees
Listenin to buddy
Explainin the keys.

"Boys, I say the keys
Cause there's lots a keys
But only one door
One hive for the bees.

So listen to me
And I'll try to tell all
As I heard it long ago
In the Pure Land Hall.

Life is like a dream.
You only think's it's real
Cause your born a sucker
For that kind of deal;

But if the truth were known
You ain't here nohow
And neither am I
Nor that cow and sow

You see across the field
One standing silently
The other rutting ragefully
In essence so quietly

For you good boys
With winesoaked teeth
That can't understand
These words on a heath

I'll make it simpler
Like a bottle of wine
And a good woodfire
Under the stars divine.

Now listen to me
And when you have learned
The Dharma of the Buddhas
Of old and yearned

To sit down with the truth
Under a lonesome tree
In Yuma Arizony
Or anywhere you might be

Don't thank me for telling
What was told me
This is the wheel I'm turning,
This is the reason I be.

Mind is the maker
for no reason at all
Of all this creation
Created to fall.
II
"Who played this cruel joke
On bloke after bloke
Packing like a rat
Across the desert flat?"

Asked Montana Slim
gesturing to him
The buddy of the men
In this lion's den.

"Was it God got mad
Like the Indian cad
Who was only a giver
Crooked like a river?

Gave you a garden
Let the fruit harden,
Then comes the flood
And the loss of your blood?

Pray tell us good buddy
And don't make it muddy
Who played this trick
On Harry and Dick

And why is so mean
The eternal scene,
Just what's the point
Of this whole joint?"
III
Replied the good buddy:
"So now the bird is asleep
And the airplane gone
Let's all listen deep

Everybody silent
Includin me
To catch the roar
Of eternity

That's ringin in our ears
Never-endingly.
You hear it Tom, Dick
And Harry Lee?

You hear it Slim

From Old Montan'?

You hear it Big Daddy
And Raggedy Dan?

You know What I mean
When I say eternity?
You heard it in your crib ?
Shhh Infinity."
IV
Up spoke Big Daddy

From Baltimore

An enormous neg*o
Forevermore:

"You mean that shushin
And that fussin
A-slushin in your ears
For all those years?

When I was so high
Jess a little guy
I thought it was me
In the whisperin sea

Asked my Mam
About that jam,
She didn't say nuthin,
She sowed the button

It was quiet and late
At the afternoon grate.
Her face showed no sign
Of that whisperin line

But as we sat waitin
Instead of abatin
The noise got to roar
Like an openin door

That opened my haid
Like if it was daid
And the only thing alive
Was that boomin jive

And we looked at each other
Child and mother
Like wakin form a dream
In a spirit stream."
V
"Well spoken, Big Daddy!"
Cried the buddy real glad.
"This proves that you know
And you'll never be sad.

For that was the sound
That we all hear now
And I want you to know
It's no sound nohow

But the absence of sound
Clear and pure,
The silence now heard
In heaven for sure.

What's heaven?
By Nirvana mean I?
This selfsame no-sound
Silence sigh

Eternal and empty
Of sounds and things
And all thievin rivers
Complainin brings

For if we can sit here
In this riverbottom sand
And come to see
and understand

That we got in us
Ability to hear
Holy Emptiness
Beyond the ear

And block our ears
And hear inside
And know t'aint here
Nor there, the tide,

But everywhere, inside,
Outside, all throughout
Mind's dream, Slim?
What you gripin about?

Imaginary rivers
And gardens too,
A movie in the mind
Of me and you.

The point
of this whole joint
Is stop, sit
And thee anoint

With teachings such
As these, and more,
To find the key
Out of this dark corridor.

The effulgent door,
The mysterious knob,
The bright room gained
Is the only job."
The boys was pleased
And rested up for more
And Jack cooked mush
In honor of the Door

-Jack Kerouac

Huge selection of Jack Kerouac poetry.

?


View the attachments for this post at: http://www.jlaforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=698141689#698141689




This is a response to the post seen at: http://www.jlaforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=683447517#683447517

--- PyGate Linux v1.5
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)