While feeding Sali lunch today I whispered in her ear that she radiates goodness and joy. It is her inner nature. It shows in her smile, no matter what changes she’s going through with the illness. Whether they know it or not, it’s the main reason the staff love Sali. Why I love her.
Later in the day, as I was washing my hands, those thoughts came back to me. I composed them in my head as a haiku, then stretched it out to a tanka, and immediately wrote it down. It has a Zen-like quality to it.
Sali’s essential nature
so it’s down to this
no mind, just bliss, and a smile
essential nature
that’s why everyone loves you
you radiate what we are
© Ken Chawkin
Fairfield, Iowa
Jan 5, 2016
I also told her about the eternal nature of love, of our love. Circumstances may change—we get old, sick, and die, but that part of us goes on, is eternal. I do believe that love is our essential nature. If we reincarnate, come back, we look for it, for that person who radiated it, reflected it back to us, with whom we shared the unifying fulfilling magic of a more enlightening love.
The Gita says, Karma is unfathomable, but I add, Love is eternal, and transformational! See Coming Back For Love In Five Favorite Romantic Films, especially the first and last films on the list.
See William Stafford—The Way It Is, including the Vedic expression I added. It extends the poem’s theme to its ultimate spiritual conclusion.
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