Poetry for the Inner Ear

 restless thunderstorm fails to touch meditating monk's wall gazing bewildered fiend trapped in body declines to obey will of  others: eye of angel in pain

 devil stole peace a long time ago: mother earth needs monk to pray in inner temple better to love your own company fruitful life feeds on solitude braving thunderstorm alone

 better than despair and decay fly like eagle amid storm as though our life depended on it  instead of thinking how to avert nuclear war virtuous person escapes to other planets

 pride hardly does us good humility makes us greater than human: the story of eternal truth whenever in agony: sonorous river near meadow wishes me well and grants peace

 climbing the hills enjoying clouds floating above me: nature gives more than it takes demons of chaos fail to touch me: lord's arms ever protect 

 what a friend we have in breathing balm: our only joy in a cruel world this is the land of  barbaric swords we have lost those fountains and meadows: terror has shown its claws

 altruistic person brightens earth best role model worker of miracles gentle monk's race to journey with buddha: salvation begins

 being abandoned by thousands of cancers: death of meadow   crystal flowing of stream birth of  love in every breeze: learning nature

 prefer nonviolence to  assured destruction of  earth: buddha's middle way bird's melody  and echoing green hear lord's footsteps

 much safer to be humble than to command: eternal truth nuclear warheads horror and despair: hoping some sunny clime

  we have too much of brutality we are unworthy of lord's love: armies for prey fight soul's purest part no longer aware of assassin: meditating in a solitary grove

 beneath frost of  nuclear arsenal glows lord's mercy today and forever  heaven and earth smile fear fails to appal as I find fountains of peace are within

 patience and temperance avert our total doom: pray no one ever presses nuclear button biblical flood may drown earth love and forgiveness do everything for us let us trust