Dean Okamura

Sage Tiago

The summer sounds teased me 

on the trail with no one around. 

One is never alone when surrounded by nature. 

Listen to the sound of bird calls. 

Swishing sounds of thin stem rapiers through the air. 

Hear the swift stirring of hummingbird wings. 

See the Mesquite Tree of Repose. 

Under its waving branches, sits Sage Tiago Del Cerro, 

who is our peninsula respected bodhisattva. 

Talking to Sage Tiago does 

wondrous good to improve the soundness of the mind. 

I wish I had met him earlier in life. 

Reaching the Mesquite Tree, he sits 

in repose, dwelling in profound sound sleep. 

He answers us with eyes shut. 

We count on him for sound advice. 

Speaking in his mother tongue, hands clasped on his lap, says, 

"It starts with you." ("El inicio de todo, comienza contigo.") 

     "It starts with you." 

          "It starts with you." 

               Then drifts off into the divine sound of Om. 

Oh, I wish there was a sonar 

sounding device whose penetrating waves 

revealed a person's hidden reefs — 

     reefs that upset, 

          reefs that abuse, 

               reefs that betray, 

          reefs that serve self, 

     reefs that torment. 

Oh, how nice it would be to dive 

deep into a person as a whale sounds to the depths of the sea, 

rather than dive into the depths of despair. 

Time passes. Best memories remain. 

Maybe lost love presents itself afresh — from 

summer fifty years ago at Puget Sound. 

Does she remember me? 

"It starts with you." ("El inicio de todo, comienza contigo.")