A Meditation On Emptiness Poem by Charles Chaim Wax

I awoke at 10: 55 Pm
I would have preferred 4 AM
because then I could have stayed
awake
and experienced
the coming of the dawn,
and heard the birds sing.
When I hear the birds sing
in the darkness
before dawn
I feel connected
to elemental indestructible nature.
I become extremely
happy at that time.
But since it was only 10: 55 PM
it was too earl; y to wait
I felt the approach of sleep
and said: what is better than sleep?
and then I became euphoric
and thought of infinity.
What is there to fear?
Not longing for death
but no fear,
and it was lovely;
the cool breeze blowing on me
and the groggy eyes.
Enlightenment again.
Birth, death, infinity-
all one like a secret lullaby.
I started to laugh out loud
Bursts of laughter out loud,
over and over
and then a word came into my
laughter:
compassion.
And I started to laugh
at the sound of that word
as if I should have known
all along and now that I did know
it was all so simple and incredibly
true.
No doubt
And I wondered
why I had taken so long.
Laughing.
Hysterical.
Without abandon
And the word compassion
repeated again and again,
fusing with laughter.
And then
the laughter
stopped
and I knew
when the dawn came
I could not keep it,
I mean, Enlightenment,
the no fear of death,
the laughter erupting,
the word compassion
intimate
with every cell of my body.