by Preston Keido Houser

The dharma of natural laws
Initiate a sublime conclusion:
“No cause, no cause.”*

Zen sermons for all their flaws
Frame an eloquent elocution
The dharma of natural laws

To escape ideological claws
One source of absolution:
“No cause, no cause.”

Dreams must give us pause†
The crystal clarity of illusion
The dharma of natural laws

Being beyond is will or was
Exalt religious revolution:
“No cause, no cause.”

No curse no applause
Only a salient solution:
The dharma of natural laws:
“No cause, no cause.”


*cf. King Lear (4.7.75).
†cf. Hamlet (3.1.68).

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Preston Keido Hauser is a longtime member of Writers in Kyoto, a poet and a player and teacher of the Japanese wind instrument shakuhachi. He has been in Kyoto since 1981. His website may be found at www.keidokyoto.wordpress.com. To read more of his work on the WIK website, click here.