National Poetry Month & my slight return

I haven't been blogging lately, but recent posts @ jstheater and Noctuary made me think about the necessity of poetry. Yesterday I came across this poem by Buddhist monk, peace activist, and poet Thich Nhat Hanh, which someone had bookmarked...

Structure of Suchness

Do not scold the little birds.
We need their songs
Do not hate your own body.
It is the altar for humanity's spirit.

Your eyes contain the trichiliocosm,
and your ears have sovereignty over the birds,
the springs, the rising tide,
Beethoven, Bach, Chopin,
the cries if the baby,
amd the song that lulls her to sleep.
Your hands are flowers of love
that need not be picked by anyone,
and your forehead
is the most beautiful morning of all mornings.
Do not destroy the structure of suchness within you.

The corn, the grass, and the fragrance of the night
have all spoken out for peace.
I know a bullet may strike
the heart of the little bird this morning,
the bird that is celebrating life with all its might.
The corn, the grass, the fragrance of the night,
together with the stars and the moon--
all of us are doing our best.
We are doing everything we can
to keep you alive.

From Call Me By My True Names: The Collected Poems of Thich Nhat Hanh (Berkeley, California: Parallax Press, 1993)