Friday, June 11, 2010

unencumbered


 Dharma
Billy Collins

The way the dog trots out the front door
every morning
without a hat or an umbrella,
without any money
or the keys to her dog house
never fails to fill the saucer of my heart
with milky admiration.

Who provides a finer example
of a life without encumbrance—
Thoreau in his curtainless hut
with a single plate, a single spoon?
Ghandi with his staff and his holy diapers?


Off she goes into the material world
with nothing but her brown coat
and her modest blue collar,
following only her wet nose,
the twin portals of her steady breathing,
followed only by the plume of her tail.


If only she did not shove the cat aside
every morning
and eat all his food
what a model of self-containment she would be,
what a paragon of earthly detachment.
If only she were not so eager
for a rub behind the ears,
so acrobatic in her welcomes,
if only I were not her god. 



2 comments:

  1. I'm afraid I'm going to snicker for the rest of the day at the image of Holy Diapers. I wonder what the Mormons call their sacred undergarment??

    Okay, enough of my sophomoric sense of humor (I'd have said adolescent, but I don't want to blame that on junior high kids.)
    _________________________________
    Te Deum
    by Charles Reznikoff

    Not because of victories
    I sing,
    having none,
    but for the common sunshine,
    the breeze,
    the largess of the spring.

    Not for victory
    but for the day's work done
    as well as I was able;
    not for a seat upon the dais
    but at the common table.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well, as soon as I typed 'material world' I began singing Madonna, so I'm not far behind you.

    This Reznikoff is wonderful and well describes the week.

    ReplyDelete