j21


Kuan Yin


Of the many buddhas
I love best the girl
who will not leave the cycle of pain before anyone else.
It is not the captain declining to be saved on the sinking ship,
who may just want to ride shame out of sight.
She is at the brink of never being hurt again
but pauses to say, All of us. Every blade of grass.
She chooses to live in the tumble of souls through time.
Perhaps she sees spring in every country,
talks quietly with farm women while helping to lay seed.
Our hearts are a storm she trembles at.
I picture her leaning on a tree or humming or
joining a volleyball game on Santa Monica beach.
Her skin shines with sweat.
The others may not know how to notice what she does to them.
She is not a fish or a bee;
it is not pity or thirst;
she could go, but here she is.




---Laura Fargas