A Second Look (poem)

I stop under the broad leaf catalpa on the corner of Normal Road and wait in my whites for a goodnight glimpse of Guru's face. Night air feels suspended as breath becomes in deepest meditation.

After a week of Celebrations I fold inward easily as water entering into water, as easy as now into ever and ever until at last I see a car slowly ascending.

His headlights pierce all darkness, the engine hums an extended aum, and miracle of miracles Guru is mere feet away for several stretched seconds. Whites of his eyes loom large in his smooth mocha skin. He looks straight into me till I am an ember in the pyre of his pupils, and all dissolves: the street, the car, the broad leaf catalpa tree, the ticking of time's engine. All is absorbed in one looking at one looking at One

until time turns over once more, night reassembles around my whites, and the car moves ahead under the dark green leaves as Guru turns back smiling and looks at me again.

Derek (Vancouver)