Buddha Came, Uninvited

There was no question  
of his belonging in my house,  
stretched out on the sofa,  
head propped up on his left hand,  
looking at me as if I were the guest  
in my own house and not he.  

One of the deepest human longings is the desire to "come home." We are the only species, as far as I know, that actually does not feel at home on the earth. We have divorced ourselves from the world and lost our sense of belonging. My cursory study of Buddhist philosophy reminds me of our alienation and offers an invitation to come home to ourselves, to find and realize the Buddha that lives in each of us. 

“You’ve waited your whole life,”  
he said, “for someone to say to you:  
come home.”  

I wept.  

I wanted to wash his feet.  
But he refused, laughing,  
and said, "that is another faith."  

Then, he instructed me,  
articulating every word,  
as if this was the whole of his teaching:  

“Wash your own feet as you would mine.”  

© Nick LeForce
All Rights Reserved

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I did not want to take off my shoes,  
ashamed of the hole in my sock.  

But he spared me my embarrassment,  
changing the subject, wanting to hear  
the latest gossip. It was only then  
that I realized how much  
he loved this world.