Which Way to Nirvana?

There is no one best way

to step off the world

when the world is

too much with you.

Something to be said

for lying on your back

watching the clouds roll by,

a somnabulist in nubibus,

inventing an Imax,

spectacular images

Rorschach never dreamed of.

Booze, everyman's favorite.

Poor stick to crack,

rich count on coke,

Homegrown bud will do for most.

Everyone loves sports,

fear and trembling fade

with golf, the ridiculous obsession.

Tennis, civilized combat.

Doctors, nurses fly high,

no prescriptions required,

a panoply of pills,

pink, blue and red devils,

opiates of the soul.

Home sweet home again!

Don't look behind.

The grim reaper follows.

Try skydiving,

Bungee-jumping,

Climb ever-higher mountains,

Race a boat around the world,

but don't cry for mamma

when you know the end is near.

Consider the most sublime path.

ancient Upanishads understood

the ping-pong of the mind as monkey chatter.

Sit quietly, watch your breath,

all thought an insurmountable trap

in the quest for equanimity.

Milton P. Ehrlich