A “Buffalo Soldier”; one distinguished in battle as having “fought like a cornered buffalo”.

treed; an archaic term for ‘under attack’

mistletoe; a symbol of fertility, life

nighthawk; the nightjar,or in this case, its ‘song of redemption’…

Buffalo Soldier

I live in a cabin up by the woods,
There’s an old grey rock where we buried the goods.
He used to be my own true beau;
He lived like a cornered buffalo!

Winter had past, it was early spring,
I knew he was heading back to the ring.
Said he had ‘someplace he had to go’;
He felt like a wounded buffalo.

I received a letter, now not long past,
How his luck had changed, this time it would last.
How my babe and I would finally be freed;
My love he loved like a buffalo treed!

Well, there we were by the hot water spring,
When an ill wind brought the chill that it brings;
They’d found his trail of blood in the snow,
He’d fought like a maddened buffalo!

I still remember, I’ll never forget,
Back to the time when we first met;
How we kissed underneath the mistletoe –
My love took the field like a buffalo!

’Tis a sad but a holy thing to love;
Wisdom for fools and morning doves.
My love he stood at six feet tall,
And yet he fell like the buffalo falls.

We live in a cabin up off the range,
There’s an old grey rock where we buried the change.
When I tell myself I’ll let him go,
My heart it bouts like a buffalo!

At times far-off a church bell rings.
At certain hours the nighthawk sings.
Few there were that went toe to toe…
My love he fought like a buffalo.

hide yourself
for a moment, in order to
see Him fully!

after drinking
from the ditch for so long,
a sip of pure rainwater

I circle around
this body, diseased and dying,
wasted in pursuit of
a rotten pile of causes

the simple man,
in simple self-effacement,
finds the one who knows the way!

Could Life Be No More Than This?

If there were no beginning,
If there were no end,
No fear of birth,
And death, a friend.
No need for dismay
Or atonement due;
There’d be nothing to flee
And nothing to pursue.

If there were no future,
If there were no past,
No good, nor hope
Of making it last.
If there were no evil
to disavow;
Life would be no more
That what it is now.

If there were no heaven,
If there were no hell,
If there were no power,
No magical spell.
Nothing to deter you
From keeping your vow;
Life would be no more
That what it is now.

If there were nowhere to go,
And nothing to be,
If there were nothing to know
And nothing to see.
If there were nothing to prove,
No why or how…
Life would be no more
Than what it is right now!

The above sequence is inspired by a Japanese film from the 50’s or 60’s, the name of which I forget, admittedly from a simpler time than what we are experiencing today. As mankind’s karma as a whole speeds up, so too apparently, does his capacity for evil-doing which in turn provides greater opportunity for spiritual growth, and/or vice versa. This has to do with the Cycles of Life and  apparently is God’s will and plan, otherwise today’s events would not be happening, (on the other hand when have they not been happening?)

And so further to the final tanka, man’s goodness is attended by his wickedness. These qualities come in pairs and are relative to human feelings, and specifically, the individual point of view. As Soul unfolds spiritually over the course of many lifetimes, it moves further away from the extreme emotions and closer toward the “middle path” or “narrow way”, ie; a more Godlike state of consciousness. We need to remember God is concerned primarily with Soul and not the human state of consciousness, as the human state is transient and essentially comprises the theatre that provides Soul experience. An example of what awaits a Soul that takes an extreme viewpoint such as today in Israel versus Palestine, may mean that the Lords of karma direct a particular Soul after translating to incarnate immediately as a member of the opposing faction, ie; a fanatic Israeli  may chalk up a lifetime or lifetimes as a Palestinian, in order to temper the destructive mindset which It has been infected with in Its last life, and so on.

Just a train of thought to add further context to the discourse as we witness the horror of events unfolding today.

Haiku Sequence;

A Bride for Yoguro

September babies;
his extended family now
has a new girl

the hearts of children,
docile and precious, believe
in their make-believe

no customers,
rice cakes in November;
a good idea at the time

a bride for Yogoro,
it must be someone his
mother approves of

the palace rises
in beauty only against
the ugliness of
the dwellings of the
destitute

These lines inspired by AHH’s image above, btw…

every sip
from eternity is a pause
in sidereal time

wanting no thing;
you are the cure, the sight
that opens my seeing!

fear imposes itself
only when the tiger fails to
confront its tigerhood

fine raptor;
the black of my eye,
turning on a dime…

your eye opens
and out flies a bird –
off it goes!

I Bring to Thee

sometimes in comfort’s ease, I’ll
find some undiscovered breeze

or in despair’s thrashing woes,
to stay the ache I must compose

I’ll climb upon my children’s backs;
one’s name is thorn, the other rose

and to this task, bound and wed,
I ride the storm and rake the rows

past the teeming river flats, where
the skimming geese convene

o’er the sacred mountain grove,
on through the emerald labyrinthine

last night I scrubbed the starry vault,
with sweated brow of pale moon time

and rode the morning sun horse home,
to bring to thee this brand new rhyme!