Not one thing

Not one thing                                                                                           

Remove thyself, said Hafiz,

for thou art the veil.  Speaking of himself

but telling me also the solution to my dilemma.

Or perhaps telling me there is no solution –

I am my own dilemma, dilemmas not

allowed into the kingdom of heaven.

You can’t jump over your own head, Baba said.  

No matter how small and low you get

or how high you leap, it’s impossible

for you to rise above the mire of yourself. 

Not one thing can ever become everything.

And the grievous truth about death (He said)

is that you don’t die, but escape

to become yet another barrier to freedom.

O child of God, as a poet you know well enough

the inadequacy of words outside the dream.