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TULKU THUBTEN

 

6 Poems

 

I was born in the Northern desert;

A herdsman most of my life ‘til thirty;

Never saw what my face looked like.

Yesterday, a guest gave a Chinese mirror,

And I saw one hundred beautiful expressions.

A new courage was born in my heart;

Now, I’ll ask the Princess to marry.

 

 

 

 

 

The heavenly daughter from the deathless city,

Half hidden, revealed from her white clouds;

If I overcome my fear, reach out with confidence,

We shall dance!

 

 

 

 

 

I could well have the elegant robes of a monk

And well gain reverence from devotees

And have people praise me as a holy man or saint,

But that would not satisfy the desires of my beloved.

 

 

 

 

 

He never believed in a doctrine,

And is dismissed as a nonbeliever.

He never belonged to a race, and is dismissed as a heretic.

He never confined himself to a culture,

And is ostracized from the human family.

 

 

 

 

 

A noise woke us up -

The black cat chasing a mouse -

My lover looked at me,

“Don’t be like that!”

I nodded my head three hundred times.

 

 

 

 

 

I saw tears from Buddha’s statue in the temple,

I went home, found my talking parrot dead.

I prayed for something, nothing has been answered.

I put my lover’s tears onto him,

He came to life once again.

So marvelous,

But remained silent after that,

Until yesterday, which was his funeral,

With one hundred good-looking ghosts.