Aquinas Has Questions for Hakuin

 

         . . . By this time he had lost his reputation,

         which did not trouble him,

         but he took very good care of the child.

                                        — PAUL REPS, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones

 

 

So when they came to you — the weeping girl,

her angry parents demanding to know

Was it you? — did you surrender? What pearl

were you hiding in your words Is that so?

 

And when they left the baby at your door,

did you name the child Falsehood even though

you loved her, bought her milk? Were you too poor

in spirit to say more than Is that so?

 

And when a year had passed and back they came,

weeping for your forgiveness, did you show

them your wounds? They took the child — did you blame

them? Is that what you meant by Is that so?

 

 

© Michael Fleming

Brattleboro, Vermont

February 2018

 

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