Guru

The syllable gu means shadows
The syllable ru, he who disperses them,
Because of the power to disperse darkness
the guru is thus named.

- Advayataraka Upanishad 14 - 18, Verse 5


i carried you with me,
naomi shihab nye,
from albuquerque to los angeles,
excited to continue words under the words,
looking at your picture,
waiting to check my bags,
thinking that i might find your mother
somewhere in the crowd,
smiling with the same expression.

i have to apologize,
though,

as i never realized that such a short trip
could be so dangerous for you,
never anticipated sitting down
next to a woman from taos
who would be moved by your image as well,
but moved in such a different way:

     nuke the muslims
     (she was so calm when she said this),
     nuke them all and then i can sleep at night.
     i don’t like bush,
     he embarrasses me,
     he scares me,
     but the muslims,
     they scare me most of all.
     there won’t be peace
     until we’re rid of them.
     my guru tells me that the final step
     in the movement from gu to ru
     is to open my arms,
     but i don’t know if i can do it.

she finishes
as i sit there next to her,
with your book in my hand,

wondering if she has ever
read any of your poetry.