elegy for an old friend

there was a Buddha's knowing gaze
in your serene reliability
your many uncomplaining years
of solitude cramped into your corner
accompanied only by a varying display
of clocks and photos and flowers
on your head

your stoic wait for the fingertip
press that would electrify
your dark and dusty face
gradually illuminating and alleviating
the blackness of sheer loneliness
warming the chilling reality of
our environment

but now my friend your time
is done your duty is over
time for me to gaze at
this neophyte that graces my living
room with its flat face
and svelte plasma
technology

dead again alive

i am cloud, letting go again of my potential
letting go of my desires letting go of
my sensitivities my attachments
raining, falling through space
precipitating past memories
dispersing to the
universal ocean
as nil once
again
then
Radiance
that nurtures my
eternal cycle brings
the heat that concocts
the vital conditions for me
to rise as vapour from the sea
of spirit, from formlessness emerging
once again filling with that potential essence
filling with those desires and with those sensitivities
i am cloud, suffused with my inherent irresistible force