PEACE AND PARADOX
For Pundiji Ravi Shankar

You cannot bottle him,
for Jesus is an ocean.
You cannot arrest him,
for Jesus is the sun
and the sky.

Buddha kept his peace,
for he knew them
to be deaf.
The angels
urged him
to talk
for those who hear.

Baber,
the Moghul emperor,
sentenced
all those in his kingdom
who lie
to be hanged by the neck.
His Grand Vizier decreed
those entering the Imperial Court
shall be put to death.
The emperor had been outwitted.
Had he put his Vizier to death,
he would have only killed a truthful man.
Had he not put him to death,
he would have spared a liar.

The greed of an old man
for sex is boundless
without potency.

You cannot learn
how to row
by
changing the boat.

Only a child knows
how to trust
how to love
how to play
how to laugh
how to yoga
how to teach.

Trust
your capabilities.
Doubt
your handicaps.

The One is in many.

Majid Tehranian
Cambridge, MA
April 14, 1995