eyebrows
De Lin the Chan Master
a tigerish air about him
looked at John and said
“so, Shen-yen gave you transmission,
what did he teach you?”
all eyes shifted to John
“to see the nature with a
compassionate heart”
all eyes shifted back
De Lin rocked on his cushion
eyebrows lifted
“not bad! not bad!”
now it might’ve been
a rhetorical question
but still
even though I was the student
and John the teacher
I can’t think
if I’ve ever felt
pride like it
HC: 2019