Pines: Page 2
BUDDHIST ESCHATOLOGY
Driving north on Palisades Parkway
glad to be alive in July
after a month of heavy rains
the greens are tropical
my garden
in Glens Falls
lush with yellow squash
three weeks ahead
of last year
after talking
with Bernie
about the anger
he harbors
at his fear
of dying
alone
in which he locates
the whole
of Buddhist
eschatology:
the terror
our species imposes
on the world
will bring
about the next
dark age
but realize one
may as easily die
into love
the heart at last
unbound
and fall
through years of grace
with my wife and daughter
into the heartache
of my childhood
dissolve happily
into the closing lotus
of my mother's
womb
a garden growing
backward