Light 14
Nirvana’s Trap South Korea
Text
samsara, on the rocksthe wheel doesn’t ask permission.it just turns,and you’re on it,born again into the same hungerswearing a different face.the gods look down with their many eyes,each one half-lidded with pity,hands frozen in gesturesthat might mean come hereor might mean you’re not ready,and nobody’s translating.they know more than you.that’s the whole racket.they sit up there in dimensionsfolded like napkins at a tableyou’ll never get a reservation for,and they let you wonder.the wondering is the hook.what’s past the edge of this reality?you ask the question at 3 a.m.and the ceiling says nothing,the way ceilings do,the way gods do,the way the universe has beensaying nothing beautifullyfor thirteen billion years.so you go back in the blender.love, then pain,then the long stretch of sufferingyou swear is teaching you something,then the little sip of redemptionthat keeps you ordering another round.they call it life.the menu never changes.and maybe nirvana isn’t a door.maybe it’s the moment you stopgripping the blender’s rim,stop asking the many-eyed bartenderwhat’s in the drink,and just let the wheel turnwithout you holding on.the illusion was never the world.it was the handthat thought it had to hold it.
