2010/buddha

I guess I’m the only
one who’s mad at
the Buddha, leaving
his wife and son
to wonder(wander).

Imagine her life
when she woke up
to find him gone,
waking every day
thereafter, never
knowing why he left,
would he ever return.
Sometimes men do,
sometimes they go off
and come to their senses,
and the wives, more often
than not, take them back
– maybe not without question,
but usually if the questions
are posed, the answers are
fairly shoddy.

Every day she must have
wondered, was she not good
enough, was she not pretty.
What had gone wrong,
what did she do?
Had he tired of her,
was it the baby, keeping
him awake at night.
Had she been selfish,
trying to sleep before
the child woke her again.

What was her life like,
they never seem to say.
Being left rarely bodes
well for a woman’s life.
Buddha, did he ever think
of her, or the damage he’d
done to his abandoned son?
Mothers, of course, have
always known, enlightenment
must be found right where
you are, sewing up the rips
and tears, staring out
the window as you wash
the sink, wondering.

7/12/10