THE PREACHER

He came from a hamlet in rocky Tibet
In a robe dyed with saffron and perfumed with sweat.
A friend to both Man and to humblest Beast,
He taught the deep secrets of flour and yeast
Because full well he knew that to get into Heaven
A soul must be nourished by grain and by leaven.

He tackled the tasks of his life unafraid,
And daily he made eggy bread with a braid,
With twists and with turns like a cloth on a loom:
(He’d bake half a dozen; his oven had room.)
That oven was kept hot by regular rations
Of firewood, dried by the heat of his passions
For peace and for love, the cessation of violence
And an end to disease, thanks to medical science.

He preached Bread and Peace, without one speck of drama:
This Tibetan sage, AKA Challa’i Lama.