TOWARDS THE UNBORN
Posted on August 21st, 2014
by Suwanda H J Sugunasiri
(In honour of my Kalyana Mitta, the late Prof. Ananda W P Guruge)
————————–
It was high-flying
You decided to go, the
Same way you
Lived, for four score
Plus years, seeking
To pull everyone on your
Path, to fuller heights, if
Not to match yours, but
To one’s own highest, living
In this samsaric
Quagmire, called the world.
You let no obstacle
Stand in your way, in
Taking the message
Of the Dhamma, hoisting
The Flag of beloved
Lanka, the UNESCO,
the academic portals,
the public forum,
all on your palm,
inspiring one
inspiring all,
ever there
to give a hand
to share a thought, the
airports of the world
your home to etching
the latest
research, intuiting
the latest
insight, in
between flights,
weaving full flights
of fancy into
three full novels,
another on its way
when Mara sought
your company, bored
with the bland
that come his way.
Sharing your smile
You go his way
Confidence oozing
That it won’t be long
Before Mara will have to
Return to his
Well-earned boredom.
We your family
We your friends
We the Buddhist world
We the Ambassadors
We the Buddhist Academy
We all the rest
Have not a shred
Of doubt that the
Higher Path
Is awaiting
With a red carpet
For your arrival.
May you then, we beseech,
Not rest in peace, until
Until until that
Higher peace
Of the ‘UNBORN’
Is all smiles
In your face!
NOTE: ‘Unborn’ (Pali ajāta) refers to Nibbāna, the goal of a Buddhist.
Toronto, Canada
August 17 2014
(Buddhist scholar Suwanda H J Sugunasiri is author of three collections of poetry, and the extraordinary first novel”, Untouchable Woman’s Odyssey.)