Meher Baba

101 Haiku for Baba-Lovers

Joe DiSabatino

 

 
Cherry blossoms

 

 
I remembered You 5000 times
to see what happens inside
my heart churned pink ice cream all day




Chanting Baba's Name
brings the deepest pleasure
pink pina coladas on a spring evening





O beautiful Ancient One —
Your eyes must be weeping
this summer drizzle




On this Silence Day
the birds can't
stop singing





If I could say the word
Meher, that one word alone,
the way earthworms sing




Dancing with You
alone in the lagoon cabin
raindrops drumming the roof





Flat on the boathouse deck
devouring the noon sun of You
in the reeds a blue heron




Beneath the footbridge
where You once paused
the white water lily blossom





Exhausted, I arrive
at the gate of Your home
I fall asleep there for ten lifetimes




A lifetime of mistakes
washed clean
by the fragrance of wisteria





To die before you die
listen to what the
magnolia bloom whispers




If I could only surrender
the way that alligator
stares at nothing all day





Before Your Center came into being
what native people lived here?
who was I before I knew You?




On Baba's birthday
my friend's father dies of cancer
he was weary and beaming





Walking this path
Original Kitchen to Your house
my shadow follows cautiously




Wandering Your garden
looking over Long Lake
so much sadness in the world





By the footbridge
the pine tree You leaned on
how gentle it feels




Shoes on the steps
of the lagoon cabin
welcome home





As I journey through
this world of illusion
Your turquoise Edsel turns to rust




Journeying the white marble
veiling Your beautiful face
an ant and I fall through a window





In Your Samadhi
the still point of the turning wheel
roses crumble into Nothingness




Bowing to the stone
that sunk You back down
a sudden chorus of birds by the well





Halfway up the hill
hurrying to evening arti
a crow teaches me to pray




Inside Your jhopdi
where the Silence began
the Silence began. the Silence. the.





As the whole world sleeps
faces kiss the pillow
on Your Meherazad bed




Silence Day
the sound It makes inside
helped build the pyramids





Another Amartithi comes and goes
another bicycle bell
alerts me to You




Fresh snowflakes
on Your birthday
pure white mind — the open gift





Your glowing face
the eternal dhuni flame
always consuming




Behind Your tomb
a lamppost
upon entering Narnia, what the children saw





Yesterday's garlands rot
by the night watchman's post
compost for the soul




Your presence alights in the heart
a butterfly on a rose petal
one quiver and it flees





Even in the Samadhi
how I long for the Samadhi
when I hear the distant cowbell




In Your bedroom
a fragrance not from flowers
sends me in search of that garden





On its endless journey
from You to You
a caterpillar travels a leaf




Happy newlyweds
on the path to Your house
do I tell them they do not exist?





Leave the church, the synagogue,
come out to inhale His infinite beauty
in this single camellia bloom




In my right ear
the sound of Ocean singing
in my left Highway 17 humming





Remembering You
by the deep woods trail
the white dogwood sheds one petal




On Silence Day
a long conversation
with a bemused green lizard





Today dolphins
just beyond the breakers
Your Name weaving everywhere




Spanish moss —
I steal some from a tree
and You ask me why





Pelicans in the wake
of a shrimp boat
a crowd in Your bedroom this morning




The white swan
returned to Long Lake today
we were afraid it had died





The sand in Your garden
raked clean of footprints
no trace of self for a moment




Your birthday gifts
a clean blue sky
a light frost at night





Walking the beach
listening to those waves
and the inner swells of You




Sunset, the sea on soft fire
the beach where You still sit
all those years ago





Your Silence shatters
a drop of dew
slides down the water lily




Geese in a perfect V
the heart just knows
to sing Your Name





All those dogwood blossoms
cheerfully twirling
into Your open lap




Such deep surrender:
the silver perch leaping
toward Your waiting hand





Frog concert tonight
a two note symphony
listen to the inner lake




Perfect obedience:
the butterfly snagged
by a spider web, napping





Summer moon swimming
inside the midnight lake
shimmering in my heart, Your face




Over the boat house
a full moon wanders
Your face transits deep within





Inside the porch roof
of Your Samadhi
black squirrels nesting




We lower the tomb cloth
with a prayer
a lizard looks on





Sponging the threshold
of Your Samadhi
billions more feet yet to cross




Ages ago You stopped here
this ancient pond
seven turtles dozing on a log





Listening for Your voice
inside and out
in the quietude of the redbud tree




O Ancient One
light from Your face
trickles through the midnight pines





Why do You allow
all this pain?
why these turtle tracks into the sea?




In the lagoon cabin
sleep descends
a dream of napping in Your arms





A cold spring day
amid cherry blossoms
all of Your mercy, all of Your peace




Irises on either side
of Your empty chair
outside, roses demand their turn





At dusk a black vine
dangles over Long Lake
monkeys grasping for the moon




Your lovers have strong hearts
yet they're sick
happy in pain, tortured in happiness





You become even more beautiful
in the waves
of the caterpillar's walking




Sun coming up
trees, lake, sky catch fire
mystical glow in the heart





Coolness of marble
on the forehead
the foot of Your Samadhi




O Ancient One
You are even this broken twig
so what excuse is there for myself?





Morning tea enjoyed
on the boathouse deck
in the company of dragonflies




Down the beach road
seeking a hint from You
a Sparrow for all sparrows





A Particle of dust
for all particles of dust
on her eyelash




An Ant for all
ants wandering
across my blue jeans





Ancient pottery shards
easily unearthed
near the Original Kitchen




Waning moon
over Your Samadhi
Arangaon celebrates





Sticks tossed
in the dhuni fire
hobbled bull coaxed home




Black gondola
glides across Long Lake
alligator eyes watching





Huddled around
Your empty bed
sleepers awakening




Once again
in Mandali Hall
the gong chimes





A crowd gathers
on Meherazad porch
so close, so far away




Christmas day
on the Center
You left pine cones everywhere





Your infinite suffering
in this ant dragging
a struggling beetle home




Silence Day
mows through
the garbage mind





Your great mystery
in every leaf
every friend




This black ant
walking the path to Allah
the Most High





Leaving the lagoon cabin
my heart fills
with gratitude




Leaving the lagoon cabin
my soul absorbs
light upon light





There is no god
but God
in this lilac blossom




The door to the heart
swings open
as I enter Your bedroom





Coming down the hill
from morning arti
yellow orange green saris




The majestic stillness
of this solitary water lily
Your Silence in full bloom





Early autumn sunset —
ducks on Long Lake,
the heart's winged migration




A gift of zen raking
Your sandy garden
a matrix of tranquility





A pine cone falls
on the lagoon cabin roof
Your Silence deepens




The sea
the beautiful sea
I hear It all night long





On Your birthday
ice-laced trees
within, the melting candle




At the Beloved's threshold
a terrible ocean
so many tears of separation





Crescent moon
high over Your tomb
bismi 'llah ir-rahman ir-rahim

 
Cherry blossoms

 


October 16, 2005

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