CASPER
THE FRIENDLY GHOST
Stream-Entering
Though reluctant
when his mother insists
on joining the sangha
the Buddha admits
women too are capable
of stream-entering
reading these words
it is not that suddenly
I enter the stream
it is more that I become
aware of its coolness and of
myself pleasantly wading
then the sea appears
heaving between continents
grey, horizonless
death-cold currents
day and night, and I
would be a drop
Though reluctant
when his mother insists
on joining the sangha
the Buddha admits
women too are capable
of stream-entering
reading these words
it is not that suddenly
I enter the stream
it is more that I become
aware of its coolness and of
myself pleasantly wading
then the sea appears
heaving between continents
grey, horizonless
death-cold currents
day and night, and I
would be a drop