Good Enough

you do not have to be strong enough
nor limber enough
nor smart enough
you do not have to have the perfect balance of firmness and flexibility

you do not have to have the answer to every problem
you do not have to know it all by heart

there is no such thing as beautiful enough
there is only the fact of your face
and the truth it carries
the hurt and the joy and the uncertainty
there are only the laugh lines growing deeper
than the worry lines

there is no such thing as brilliant enough
there is only the presence of your mind
at any given moment
the fluctuations and the fullness

you do not have to be virtuous all the time
you do not have to be enlightened today
there is always the next lifetime
there is always another chance to be just a little bit kinder
a little bit wiser

take it in small doses like a homeopathic remedy
take a pellet of tapas
a tablet of svadhyaya
a tincture of ishvara pranidhani

your earnest effort is enough for today
for the path is long, spiraling, and circuitous
that’s enough for the moment
for you are good enough
good enough already

 

August 2014

More Poems for Palestine

OORI AGAH 우리 아가

“The children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe;
and I am beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognizing this
may be incapable of morality.”
~ James Baldwin

even before the roosters crow
    they come searching
        the lost palestinian children
they cross oceans and countless time zones
    crying for their mothers
        reaching out for their fathers
they find the grandmothers
    awake already
        sitting up in bed
here, we say
    i have made
        a space for you        
take this pillow
    drink this water
        i have been waiting for you
suddenly i can understand arabic
    i dust the rubble off their clothes
        run my fingers through their ashy hair
i say yes
         yes
        you are safe now
exhausted from their long journey
    one child tucks under my arm
        another nestles at my back
soon we are three and four deep
    one after another
        in my crowded narrow bed
even my own mother
    and grandmother
        join me in our soft expansive nest
they chant
    자장 자장 우리 아가 jajang jajang oori agah
        제도 잔다 우리 아가 jeh do jandda oori agah*           
over and over again
    until we all fall  
            asleep


* Korean folk lullaby: 자장 자장 우리 아기/ 꼬꼬 닭아 우지마라/ 우리 아기 잠을 깰라/ 멍멍 개야 짖지마라/ 자장 자장 잘도 잔다.