I saw a robin today
She was going about her business
Barely glanced at me
In my mask
Brought home from a smoky Bodh Gaya winter
Where too many people
Were cooking on the streets
And we all had a cough
She was completely disinterested
In my banal history
But I was grateful for her company -
Quite honestly
There's no such thing as solitude
Unless you're in a cell
Without even a spider
To do ESP with
And even then
Too much time on my hands
Makes me think of such things
And imagine Ama Adhe
Prostrating in her cold cement cage
We all need heroes, don't we?
Each day reminds me how
There's an expanse of difference
Between our inner and outer worlds
Rickie Lee sang about that,
"When I reach across the galaxy,
I will miss your company."
Company is all relative, you say
Even the robin knows.
***
The oil painting is of Ama Adhe on the roof of the old Reception Center in Mcleod Ganj. She is a famous Tibetan freedom fighter who spent 27 years in prison before coming to India where HH the Dalai Lama appointed her to aid the children who escaped from Chinese-occupied Tibet. I will never forget her kindness, calm and solidity.
