Zen

Zen Not by matter do we get the use Of anything, But only by the nothingness The mass creates. Vacuum is the universe, Floating on a hollow turtle shell. Even the densest objects Have their emptiness. Stand astride a Black Hole feasting And watch the waterfalls of massive rain Whirl and sparkle down their rainbow drains And you will see the lip of last horizon, Becoming void within the singularity. Nothing and something are the same, Even in the kingdoms of the name. Looking back upon our sages, They did not get it right, not one of them, Except for those displayed Upon a painted screen. (A China man perhaps, Suggested in a cloud). These sages dreamed aloud And launched their rice boats From a mountain dock, To sail the seas of paradox. Appalling work, they had great nations to unteach. They did so with a minimum of speech And humor in their legendary eyes. Those who gain the realization Be they low or of exalted station, Sit, like cats, upon the vacant air. Carl Estrin