Extrapolation on an Old Buddhist Image:
"The Likelihood of Being Born Human"

Our thoughtful turtle huge and hoary

Dragging harpoons and anchor chains

A train of seaweed sixteen coaches long

One eye blind, the other missing

For aeons through some shoreless ocean

Arises—

Breaks the surface for a single breath.

 

And what if

In that instant of replenishment

Its head rose up

Through a pink and white striped Hoola Hoop

Vintage 1957

Flung from the pier at Coney Island

The day after Thanksgiving

By a girl who would grow up

To be your mother's best friend in college

Drifting with the currents and winds

Of all that time

The odds of that?

 

Ahhh

Our precious human birth.

by Joe Hoppe 

This song is part of the contents published in Bodhi Issue 1 (Fall 1997). You can purchase this issue or subscribe to Bodhi at the Bodhi Dharma Store.