Thus Have I Heard: The Lord Buddha Was Traveling Through Brooklyn On The D Train Poem by Charles Chaim Wax

“Just ask Navin to ask, ” I said to my sister, “I’m his uncle
anyway down there in Florida they give pills out like cotton candy,
also have him ask his wife Sarah to try.”
“My brother, the drug addict.”
“We’re talking Mickey Mouse tidbits here,
to take the edge off.
Writing poetry every day takes it’s toll.”
“YOU’RE A HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER.”
”Exactly that’s why I can’t take the chance
of buying ‘em myself,
damn computers hook up everything these days.”
Howard strolled into the living room and I immediately said,
“Thanks for the Xanax, Howard.”
“Prefer Brandy myself, ” he said, a twinkle in his eye,
“a blessing to the brain, each and every time.”
”You don’t have to tell me
but now I got sugar problems so alcohol is out.” I paused
then said, “You’re a lucky man.”
“All this talking is getting a thirst in me,
can you pour me a glass, darling? ” he said to my sister.
“Are you outta your fucking mind.”
“Well, uh, I thought we cleared that up.”
“Insanity don’t get cleared up
it just shuts up.”
”Yup, ” said Howard sitting on the couch.
“Look, ” I said to my sister,
“did I ask for that psycho-hypnotic stuff? ”
”No, only because Tony T’s
selling you his father’s stash.”
”These are sad, sad days
when a man’s simple search for happiness
is demonized as drug addiction.”
“Thirty years you been
a Buddhist, two years in the Monastery,
and day after day on your ass
what about that? ”
“Getting thirsty, sweetheart, ” sighed Howard.
“Are you a fucking cripple, or what? ”
”That mean I can have a taste.”
She closed her eyes, nodding Yes
sending Howard racing for his beloved Brandy.
“Say something, ” she said staring hard at me.
“If I were famous, well, that horrid nagging thought
of failure would be banished forever, likewise the pills.”
Suddenly an ancient whisper, “Bernstein, you’re gonna die soon
in a day, or in a thousand years,
I know you know the lingo.”
“Been studying your words for thirty years.”
“Breath breathes the poem
and until the end of time always a single word:
Compassion.”