[New-Poetry] a poem for this day

[Gabriel Gudding]

Let us live in joy.
In love among those who hate.
Among those who hate,
let us live in love.

Let us live in joy.
In peace among those who struggle.
Among those who struggle,
let us live in peace.

Let us live in joy
although we have nothing:
let us live in joy
like spirits of light.



-- Siddhatta Gotama, the historical Buddha, from _Dhammapada_, trans 
Juan Mascaro, with a few touch-ups by GG by way of Paul Fleischman.

[The ethics behind this simple verse from the Dhammapada are not "let 
them all struggle while we do not help," rather implicit to this verse 
is an ethics of aid, but that this aid be given with a base of a 
balanced mind, such that the difficulties mentioned -- hatred, struggle 
-- do not overcome those who can provide aid. It is a "buck stops here" 
ethic. I find this verse beautiful both because of its strong and simply 
stated ethic and because of the way its elegant repetition does not 
strike me as a plea or a vain hope, or in any way as a hortatory 
utterance. This is an utterance of force made by someone who really 
could walk this walk. A good verse for today.]
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http://gabrielgudding.blogspot.com
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Gabriel Gudding
Department of English
Illinois State University
Normal, Illinois  61790
309.438.5284 (office)