On Baharis

I barely knew you
And I knew almost nothing of
When and how you were born
Or who your parents were
Or how you got here
Or how you found yourself being
A young bride in a strange land
Surrounded on all sides
By people who did not love you
And did not care that you were barely loved

I barely knew your life
But I know that in the young years
Of my own life
You loved me with the fierce tenderness
Of a lioness, claws and all

Maybe they never loved you
But you had love abundant
Your love, transcendant
For me, for us

On This Teahouse (Amiability)

I have come so far 
And it is only forty years later
That I can now feel
The inexorable
inviolable
inescapable pull of gravity
Anchoring me here
In amiable exile

I have everything I need
Here
Except for the buried treasure
Of finally seeing myself
And loving myself
With fullest acceptance.