While Blessing is written in poetic language, it is more aptly defined as a Prayer or Entreaty derived as a counter or corollary to the ancient Chinese curse “May you live in interesting times.”  In intent, it is essentially a reflection of Ch’an philosophy, which predates and was ultimately re-envisioned in the form of Buddhism.  The historical accuracy of the curse is a certainty and, so, perhaps there might have been a prayer to counteract its effects.  Blessing is a "re-imagining" of this hypothetical entreaty as a remedy to counteract the evil wisdom woven so slyly into the fabric of the clever, ancient curse.  DF

Blessing*

May you live an uneventful life,

With the world’s attentions focused on another.

May all the gifts and praise be for your brother

That you may rest in the perpetual twilight of his shadow.

May you be forgotten.

Let history record the deeds of more eager men,

And in unfolding your legacy be written when

On those whose weight you’ve borne, greatness is bestowed.

Be the blade of grass--the stalk of wheat.

Tempest winds shall bend you but you will not break,

Though you will remain unseen in the wake

Of all who dream and scheme the singular designs.

Die old and not alone

And leave the battlefield to the reincarnated spirit of Napoleon,

For there, below the circling carrion,

Lies the stuff of legend that leaves its creeping stain behind.

Be written on the wind

Like a drifting cloud whose transfigurations record your story,

A misty tale dismissed by the glory

Of the morning sun.

May you be a tick of time passing, not a passage,

Happry for your unnoticed years -- content it was with reason

Each moment bound to a predicted season

But sworn to passion and a temperate spirit.

May you be blessed; may you live in uninteresting times.

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©  Dean Forchette  2007

* Written as a modern philosophic corollary to the ancient Chinese curse “May you live in interesting times”.