THE BONFIRE*
Any day now
the Neptune Society
will be calling
to tell me
that my mother’s
ashes, that are in transit,
have arrived.
You should burn yourself completely.
If you do not burn yourself completely,
then a trace of yourself will be left
in what you do.
Suzuki Roshi said this
in a book I just happen
to be reading right now.
The timing of the quote
took my breath away.
There is no trace
of my mother anymore.
Fire has had its way
with her—which is what
she wanted. She wanted
her human form to be
disrobed of its flesh
and bone by flame
when the time came.
I strive daily,
especially now,
to follow in my mother’s
footsteps, by cremating
my experience as I live it,
by trying to cleanse myself
of conflict and contraction,
so that I might become one
with the inner light of spaciousness
and the love that resides there.
I want every day to be
a good bonfire,
where my energy burns
clean and pure, while the self
goes easefully
up in smoke.
*Inspired by Reverse Meditation: How to Use Your Pain and Most Difficult Emotions as the Doorway to Inner Freedom, by Andrew Holecek.
