Soham what I am illustrated by Tony Speirs

 
            Soham is Sanskrit for “I am That,” i.e., I am existence.


Some people one can’t satisfy
however one marshals one’s force.
The liar fells you with a lie.
The idler borrows hamburgers.
You tilt your hat forward to try

‘til trying becomes your life’s course,
and victories define your qi,
and conflict forms your universe—
and to struggle, then, is to be.
One day my self asked, “What am I?”

One eye to see the one great sea.
One pipe to smoke the traveling sky.
One swing to turn an enemy,
one mouthful of spinach close by.
My self bowed to the Sea Hag—hers

the crone’s wisdom, the typhoon’s eye.
We mean at last to still the storm,
atone the fight. My soul sings aye.
To blow myself down—this I am—
seeking the Sea Queen’s single peace.

Breathing the wet air—ham soham—
we’ve woven from the warp a calm.

I'm so jazzed to have a piece by Tony Speirs in the book!

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