As the Mind flies So the Bird walks to the mountain, OR Zen and the Art of Being Lazy
(a postcard from Pokhara, 1985)
by Alun Buffry
Today, outside, the weather is hazy.
Stayed in all day, feeling quite lazy.
Where to go now, we often talk,
Then decide it's too far to walk.
Two hours there and two hours back,
"Let's stay here, and have a snack".
Just fifteen minutes to Cafe Babar.
And we know that there, food's better by far,
but here we eat, for our stomachs sake,
whatever's available as it's no effort to make.
"Well", I say, "I guess that's what
A holiday's for on a day that's hot."
"We're free, we don't have to do anything.
We can fly like a bird with a broken wing."
"How can that be, such a bird can't fly?"
"We can't do much either and here is why-
'Cos - cor it's hot outside today,
And wherever we go we have to pay",
Or "My leg's aching, stiff and weak,
And there's nothing in the bazaar we seek."
"Stomach queasy, or head aching?
Let's be another chillum a-making."
Then, "Let's go in a boat!"
"No, don't want to row!"
Or, "Let's climb that mountain, look at the snow!"
Oh, if only we could get up there and back,
Without having to walk on that mountain track.
If you close your eyes and lay on your bed,
You can go anywhere inside your head.
If you know how to master the Traveller's Trick,
You'll be there in an instant and come back so quick.
