The material world
With its allure of power
Dangles the carrot of immortality mercilessly ahead
We follow it blindly
Hypnotized by the dream it offers

The unconscious one,
Desperate to avoid the truth of non existence,
Accrues wealth and power
Billions and billions
A fortune of lavish living

Yet none of it cushions them
Against the truth of emptiness

The bum, lost and empty,
Abandoned and cast out,
Dreams smashed on the rocks
No more carrot, no avoidance of brokenness,
This one has a beauty
Unseen, unheard,
Yet true

My heart turns tenderly towards both
But when I meet the bum
Through chance encounter
I am filled with great humility
Somehow I always feel
As though I am in the presence
Of a spiritual being, a sadhu,
One of the broken ones,
One who fell through the net
And dropped out of the illusion

They always bring love out of me
And for that I am grateful

There is nothing naive about this.

Photo by Daniel van den Berg on Unsplash