Seek Your Awareness Poem by Phan Thanh gian

So what is it that we're made of?
Are we the anticipation of the fishermen's dawn?
The lassitude of farmers' dusk?
Those things come and go, yet we prevail.

We are the knowledge, wisdom in time?
These may easily be gained or lost
We are still unchanged.
We exist during daylight as in darkness.

Loneliness defines us? Or social status?
Just as title comes and goes, so does isolation...
We are unfazed by these finicky seasons.
You ARE - with or without company.

Are we then heroes of bygone tales in a recast?
Such delusion can easily confuse the fools.
But as disciples of Truth, we look beyond.
We would ask: what is the fabric of the Self?

Are we the perception in the mirror?
Just as a chameleon skin shows,
The mirror has a thousand tongues.
So what are we other than our reflections?

If we're not aware how can we BE?
From the pile of bones to a lock of hair.
Without awareness, they are just that.
Awareness is everything and nothing IS without it.

Awareness is not a belief nor disbelief
Neither young nor old
Nor compassion nor dispassion
Just be aware of your own awareness!

(inspired by The Heart of Awareness, a translation of the Ashtavakra Gita)