Word Temples ~ a poem

The Chinese symbol for "poem" is made of two characters that mean "word" and "temple". Hence, a poem is a word temple.

WORD TEMPLES

Compassion is more
than a noun.
More than emotion,
a passing distress
for another's distress

That slyly escapes the ache
of insistent Bodhichitta ~
that great spirit of compassion
that yearns ever to cherish others.
Eluding, instead, through the loophole
of misdirected non-attachment.

But in the beginning,
compassion was a verb,
A bell clarifying, calling the heart to attend.
Or a gaze penetrating through to
a more pure land ~ the new Jerusalem
where sympathetic action is
the true measure of righteousness.

For faith without works
is dead faith, a lifeless statue
erected in the posture of faith,
but worshiped inside a temple
made of words.

Oh, let compassion fly!
Let compassion become
the winged horse,
carrying us forward, all of us,
to our mutual salvation. All of us
co-arising.