It’s been said the way that we live, so we shall die
But why must we change when viewed from this eye?
This poem may seem quiet, reserved and mistakenly shy
Brave in some ways and loud as the sky
Though it never gives up, it’s not consumed with a try
It abides as it is, and loves with broad eye
When love lives as love there’s no need to say why
Suppose it’s all love, then how shall it die?
Post Script
This poem came from wondering whether love must be limited to particular people, feelings, or forms. From a Zen perspective, it may be possible to love everything.
This does not mean approving of cruelty, hatred, or war. It means recognizing that nothing exists separately. The beautiful and the ugly, the peaceful and the violent, the loved and the difficult all arise within the same interdependent life. Even what we oppose cannot be placed outside the world to which we belong.
Perhaps sitting is one way of practicing this love. We allow the whole moment to arrive without first asking it to become pleasant, meaningful, or worthy. We do not have to grasp it, excuse it, or turn away from it. We sit with it as it is.
When love lives this broadly, it is no longer only something one person gives another. It becomes a way of meeting existence. Forms appear and disappear, but nothing falls outside this boundless intimacy. Suppose it is all love. Then where could love go to die?
The night sky over Joshua Tree offers a scale large enough for that question. Each light appears distinct, yet none stands apart from the darkness that makes it visible.
Image credit: Joshua Tree National Park at night (14 May 2018), Henrique Pinto. Dedicated to the public domain under CC0 1.0. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Primitive Joe 
