Poem by Benji Robert Quinn on the occasion of Shinren Mark Stone’s Shuso ceremony
All Beings Zen Sangha – Washington DC
December 15, 2018
306: a poem
I
Right here, if you stay very still and wait
You might just glimpse a dragon take her seat,
Unfurl her wings and gaze at a floor
Whose lines shoot an arrow straight at the dusty world,
Where birds sing and blowers wail and lions roar,
Whose footworn sheen is lit by lamps that pass their light
To four windows, each painting a neverending picture
Entitled: “The birth and death of leaves in the wind.”
II
Right here, be you.
Whatever your path,
Whatever the hundred thousand pages
You have written about yourself reveal,
The good, the bad the ugly all meet the same response:
A simple bow that says “I see you. You matter.
But don’t take my word for it. Have a seat and find out why.”
III
Right here you have helped me to carry my heavy book,
Taken the smoking incense from my fingers with care,
Fallen to the floor, just to look into the eyes of a child,
And drawn a wide and gentle circle that asks to be stepped into.
IV
Right here, you have held our practice with your open arms.
Now, hear the Shuso!
