Ode To Swat

 

Swat Valley––prettier than Yosemite,

Bloodier than Wounded Knee,

More believable than all the untrue statements ever told

And because of this, your own untrue statements––

Like a painting greater than what exists in mind.

Pashtun girls––fire and water dwelling in their lips,

Mustard yellow heart-veils, hearts

Burning like asphalt in the morning,

Eyeing squash blossoms, time fading away,

Home to Padmasambhava, who said,

“I belong to the caste of non-duality…

I am from the unborn sphere of all phenomena…

I consume concepts of duality as my diet.”

 

 

10 August 2009

 

 

[Published in Mantra Winds: Poems 2004-2010.

© 2010 by Jim Cohn.]