The dorje of time

The dorje of time                                                                                               
 
A mandala by the holy monks intricately created –
a colored sand circle to enjoy briefly and admire,
 
a tool for devotion, the learning of truth,
beauty and impermanence, to be after a time,
 
(with a dorje) ritually destroyed, ceremoniously offered
back to the ever-running river.  O Lord!
 
You created the Mandali – a beautiful circle
made of clay, intricately crafted, who became dust
 
at Your feet and for a time left afterwards
to be briefly enjoyed and admired, to be learned from –
 
true devotion, the impermanence of illusion
and the cling-to permanence of Your silent, profound truth.
 
O child of God, the living, vital beauty of the Mandali
has been reverently erased by the dorje of time and fate.