Mirth

How can I stand here
with a foolish grin?
How did I even
enter in?

A stowaway on
the Dharma Boat.
Why am I treated
without reproach?

I get worse.
I don't improve.
Why am I offered
delicious food?

Why am I not whipped,
thrown to the sea,
abandoned there to drown
endlessly?

I have no merits.
My good points, few.
My two eyes all but
obstruct my view.

We must give an accounting
to heaven and earth.
How can I be given
to fits of mirth?

How did I come
to be your kin?
How did I even
enter in?

How can I stand to
be so lax?
How can I dare
to speak of pax?

My faults are many.
My virtues, none.
How can I approach
the Bodhi Sun?

A stowaway on
the Dharma Boat.
Why am I treated
without reproach?

A saintly vessel.
An upright crew.
How can I dare
wear white and blue?

Multitudes,
they shriek, lament.
I fold my arms,
and won't repent.

Disasters descending
upon the earth.
How can I be given
to fits of mirth?

War and Famine.
Plague and Death.
How did I receive
the boon of Breath?

Inhale. Exhale.
What's that for?
How can I dare
treat life as chore?

There's something
that I vowed to do.
How can I take the false
for true?

I can't just stand here
with a foolish grin.
There must be a reason
they let us in.

We must give an accounting
to heaven and earth.
How can I be given
to fits of mirth?