Koan

I have come to the koan

at the heart of all life

and of my own soul.

I wrestle with it

but it will not yield to thought

or the will’s effort.

(Yet in falling

I can fall into hope,

as to despair).

O give me this hope

of the gift of enlightenment –

awakening.

Into the still’d heart,

the quieted mind

(as on parched earth, rain falls)

Into the outstretched hands

cupped petal-like

holding the flower’s centre:

meaning might be poured,

chaos yield to beauty

and darkness to the light.