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* * *
The poem began when looking out a window on a sunny winter morning. Buddha and Gaunyin (Kuan Yin ...) are images in the room. Both silent, eyes closed. Buddha sits in the Lotus posture; Guanyin stands, vase with waters symbolizing compassion tilted to share the waters. She, initially only a male image, later widely a female, is "one who hears the cries of the world." Also, she is a protector of women, children, and the sick.
Limber limbs swaying
icy snow melting -
drip drip drip wetness falls
sunlight adorning all
Buddha meditating to the left
Guanyin pouring waters of tenderness to the right
Neither seems to care
rapt in silence
but not absent
regardless of how it appears
Sometimes caring
means remaining silently present
Sometimes loving
means calmly accepting
Sometimes empathizing
means holding someone close -
without them knowing
Sometimes kindness
means a silent prayer for someone -
even if you don't know to what or whom
Yet, these are actions too
like...
Sometimes grace does by
not-doing
And something arises from being-present -
as it will
not as anyone decides
Floating on the River yielded
something without consent
surfaces
A leaf wind-blown in the air
here-and-there
no explanation, no why
A line and pole
a cork still, bobs up and down,
again still
The hush
can speak loudly
when words flail and fail
Call it divine providence
call it fate or destiny
call it natural law
what you will
- it's none of these...
but is -
The way of
the mysterious valley spirit -
... wisdom acting compassionately
compassion wisely
(C) brian wilcox, 2026
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