Henry the Buddhist
Oh, Henry was a Buddhist
I'll bet he got enlightenment
He refused the best home comforts
What greater proof does one require
One has no need for models
If a bowl is just a simple bowl
If this doesn't sound like Henry
Now some might pause to wonder
But Henry T. of Concord
P.S.
November 18, 2002
on that we can agree
for didn't he meditate on Truth
and sit beneath a tree?
when he was still quite green.
I doubt he climbed through windows
when a door was to be seen.
of which he was so fond,
and boldly shunned society
to sit next to a pond.
when a true Buddhist is sought
than spotting some enlightened soul
sitting quiet, doing naught?
of morality and good
when virtue's sole requirement is
carry water and chop wood.
until it's something more
and then it's just a bowl again --
pray, what is thinking for?
it's probably 'cause he tossed
his Buddhist Transcendental speech
and it's forever lost.
how such a thing could be --
a Buddhist son of Calvinists
in the nineteenth century?
was unlike all the rest.
And telling others what he thought
is the game we love the best.
I hope Buddhists have humor
and can laugh at my small joke.
How sad 'twould be if Christian
was the sole faith we could poke!
Copyright © Amy Belding Brown