Sunday, September 18, 2016

Interstellar Trail: Short Piece


Interstellar Trail

By Armando Ortiz


Buddhist teaching,

word and symbol,

Vajra standing

on paper still.


Diamond sutra

hemp on plaster,

hand moving faster

laying a path of ink.


Holy priest floating

riding on tiger clouds,

dismembering ego

promising redemption.


Horse of the Great Plateau

rumbling into war

chariot of fire

demolishing walls.


Flying creature

found in white clouds

on frozen blue sky

protects the spirit trail.


Ancient pilgrim

walking through desert

passing through gorges

finding knowledge in the sacred.


Old Tibetan libraries

under constant repair

after years of cultural warfare

on silent mountain valleys.


Ring the bell

of present chant,

the setting sun

washed in corral dye.


Sketched masterpieces

capture the moment

the violet sky turns onyx

revealing the source of clamor.


Palace of refuge

with dining hall

where longing gets quenched

in a banquet under Guanyin’s eye.


Master’s imagination

sketched on paper

for blind men to follow

the pattern of the shining

interstellar ember.


Sutras kept alive

on blueprint scrolls,

four sided walls repeating

the divine cycle that’s law.



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