When I showed my
11
Year old
Son a picture of the
Ponte
Vecchio the
Old
Bridge of three
Stone
Arches spanning the
Arno in
Florence built in the
13th
Century and not
Destroyed by
Hitler’s
Retreating
Armies in
1944 where
Craftsmen and
Merchants and
Performers have
Pedaled their
Goods and
Services since the
Days of
Cosimo l de’
Medici and his powerful
Ilk who crossed the
Ponte
Vecchio twice daily to
Worship
God and
Money
He said
Dad that
Old
Bridge is like the original
Strip
Mall
Thich
Nhat
Hanh is speaking
Tonight at the
College she said at
Dinner
Tick
Not
Who I asked
You know
Tick
Not
Hon the
Vietnamese
Buddhist
Monk
Oh that
Tick
Not
Hon
Try not to be a
Wiseass I’m leaving in half an
Hour if you’d like to
Drive me
You can either wait in the
Parking
Lot and tune in the
Rutgers
Game or
You can come in and
Listen to what
Hon has to say
Hmm
Rutgers
Hoops or
Buddhist
Dogma she
Rolled her
Beautiful
Aqua
Eyes and moved away from the
Table I did the
Dishes brushed my
Teeth warmed up the
Truck and stood ready to
Roll with
Three
Minutes to
Spare we sat near the
Back the college
Auditorium
Packed like a
Billy
Joel
Concert some
Philosophy or
Religion prof made the
Introduction I caught bits and
Pieces born
1926 almost
70
Years ago near
Hue
Vietnam
Buddhist school
Princeton
Theological
Seminary
Cornell
University
Columbia residing now in the
South of
France at
Plum
Village he stood I thought not much over
Five
Feet
Tall maybe
100
Pounds soaking
Wet his smooth
Bald
Pate glistening under the stage
Lights his
Eyes
Shining
Radiant his
Smile a mile
Wide he said in a soft
Lilting
Voice I am
Here you are
Here we are
Here I am happy to be
Here with
You at this moment the
Here and
Now let us
Maintain our
Presence in the
Here and
Now by taking a nice
Breath in and letting that nice
Breath out do not
Force the
Breath in or
Out just
Breathe in and just
Breathe
Out be
Nonviolent with your
Breathing be
Gentle with your
Breathing be
Tender have
Respect for your
Breathing have
Empathy have
Compassion for your
Breathing and now
Here and
Now
Treat every moment of your
Life and every
Person in your
Life and every
Animal and every
Plant and every
Living and
Nonliving thing and every
Thought and every
Action exactly the same way you
Treat your
Breathing and all will be
Well with your
World and all the other
Worlds
Swirling
Around
You this is what
Thich
Nhat
Hanh told us in the
College
Auditorium on that cold winter
Night now
Suddenly
Thirty
Years
Ago when I was still
Young and
Overflowing with the
Usual
Piss and
Vinegar rarely has a
Day passed since that
Night when I have not
Heard the little
Monk’s
Words
Echoing off the
Walls of my
Soul
Clawing at those
Walls in a
Herculean effort to
Gain
Traction and make me
See the
Pure
Simple
Diamond
Light
the lovely
Red
Bike had
no
Pedals