Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE BRONZE BUDDHA, by AMELIA WOODWARD TRUESDELL First Line: On the lotus blossom the buddha is sitting Last Line: Of stillness and dreamless sleep. Subject(s): Buddhism; Statues; Buddha; Buddhists | ||||||||
On the lotus blossom the Buddha is sitting, With the cobra's hood on his head; The sun and the moon behind him enfigured In a bronze of gold and of red. For the half of a thousand years he had sat there When the Bethlehem hymn was sung; To Nirvana's passionless peace he was passing When the Christ-Child's anthem rung. On his forehead the spot of the chosen immortal, Revered as the seal divine; Ample-lipped is his mouth, but no human emotion Breaks the fullness of curving line. And narrow his eyes, but life-shot, and gazing With a haunting calm to your own; On his lap the folded fingers are lying, The labors of man to them unknown. And the nerveless type of a dream he embodies, The inertia of unpulsed soul; But a mystery vast as the years immemorial Which into the silence roll. And illusions as subtle as orient attars Across the lulled senses creep, Till my spirit is weighted with æons and æons Of stillness and dreamless sleep. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DEATH SUNYATA CHANT: A RITE FOR PASSING OVER by DIANE DI PRIMA I FAIL AS A DHARMA TEACHER by DIANE DI PRIMA TO THE UNNAMED BUDDHIST NUN WHO BURNED HERSELF TO DEATH by DIANE DI PRIMA A FIFTEENTH CENTURY ZEN MASTER by NORMAN DUBIE GHOSTS ON THE NORTHERN LAND OF UR; CIRCA 2100 C.E. by NORMAN DUBIE POEM FOR MY FRIEND, CLARE. OR, WITH WHITE STUPAS WE REMEMBER BUDDHA by NORMAN DUBIE LADAKH BUDDHESS BIKER by LAWRENCE FERLINGHETTI FURTHER ADVANTAGES OF LEARNING by KENNETH REXROTH 87 CASA GRANDE by AMELIA WOODWARD TRUESDELL |
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