Rawsilk

Do you remember how you came into existence?
You may not remember
because you arrived a little drunk.
Let me give you a hint:
Let go off your mind and then be mindful.
Close your ears and listen!

It is difficult to speak to your unripeness.
You may still be in your springtime,
unaware that autumn exists.
This world is a tree to which we cling——
we, the half-ripe fruit upon it.

The immature fruit clings tightly to the branch
because, not yet ripe, it’s unfit for the palace.
When fruits become ripe, sweet, and juicy,
then, biting their lips,
they loosen their hold.

When the mouth has been sweetened by felicity,
the kingdom of the world loses it’s appeal.
To be tightly attached to the world is immaturity.
As long as you’re an embryo,
all you think about is sipping blood.

There’s more to be said,
but let the Holy Spirit tell it.
You may even tell it to your own ear.
Neither I, nor some other “I,” needs to tell you,
you who are also I.

Just as when you fall asleep,
you leave the presence of yourself
to enter another presence of yourself.
You hear something from yourself
and imagine that someone else
has secretly spoken to you in a dream.
But you are not a single “you,”
my friend——you are the wide sky and the deep sea.
Your awesome “You,” which is nine hundredfold,
is where a hundred of your you’s will drown.