Plum Village (for Thay and his community)

shining dome
mauled bald by bears of woe
you've crawled so many miles
on so many knees
just to eat
rejection,
once, a thousand
countless times

the victory
is in the trying
it hasn't ceased
even as old age
and political cage
whitewash over
the Zen graffiti
you scrawled, so defiant,
so fearful that your efforts
would not relieve the slipping
of those you sacrificed
yourselves
to be