Cistercian Poems | Examples

A monk with no god

A Cistercian and a Buddhist monk
       sat facing each other 
  across a simple wooden table
          in a cold room;
    a shaft of sunlight 
  from an open window
         illuminating
        the coarse bread
and a simple bowl of beans 
they were sharing.
       One monk with god;
                  one with no god 
     discussing the journeys 
        they had made;
            the paths taken.
  Two horseflies entered
through the open window
     bothering them both,
and the food they were eating.
         The Cistercian 
   quickly swatted one fly
        and brushed it to the floor.
  The Buddhist
     took a sheet of paper;
carefully lifted the other fly from the bread,
     walked it over to the window,
            set the fly free,
      and closed the window.