Birth and Death


How mental the concept,
this birth and death distinction.

What if…

Existence is neither created or destroyed,
defiled nor immaculate,
increased nor decreased,
coming nor going,
one nor many,
merely concept.

Perhaps such a belief can see the true nature of all things,
that there is neither full nor empty,
birth nor death,
becoming nor dissolving.

Standing at life’s seashore,
one can watch the waves rise and fall.
and like the blue water
frothing atop the sea,
witness simple birthlessness
and deathlessness.

For like the waves,
be they long or short,
high or low,
knowledge rises and falls,
but the understanding there is no shore.

For even as…

The mind reacts
without tempest,
no breakers necessary,
knowing arching returns to calm
for those living an actuality,
not opting for a different existence.

One breathes in as the surge rises,
then out as it passes away,
for infinity knows no end,
transcending man’s notion
of worry, fear or suffering,
birth and death.

Contemplating the wondrous nature of the potential epiphany,
we await such wisdom as a liberation from all dread,
anxiety and misery,
finally sensing afar
the world of birth and death,
as being but a mist of what was,
what was not,
and what might be.