Bodhisattvas: (In memory of the New York firefighters)

Bodhisattvas

(In memory of the New York firefighters)

For Lisa Berman-Shaw

Wherever there are sentient

beings in need of compassion, sick

in need of comfort, hungry

in need of food, they arise

summoned by the cries of the innocents--

a love so strong, they count

their own lives as nothing

to awaken the bounty of our sleeping

lives, lost in the labyrinth of the city;

and they cannot rest until the stones

themselves find solace.



So when we were strapped

securely in our SUVs in Key West,

Van Buren, Providence, Nome

burning money like Saudi oil,

thinking we were safe in our towers

of steel and glass, cages

of mortality that turned to smoke,

ash, soot--they did what they have always

done through time and space, dropped

their lives and rescued us

in the midst of the fire.

***

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