It took time but he learned the old lesson
found he couldn't relish his feast
while all around were hungry faces
closed doors and loud music
couldn't lessen the needling pain.

How could he enjoy heaven 
knowing others endure hell?
Don't all gleeful thoughts of 'heaven' 
preclude the grim idea?

This Buddha envisioned humanity
sharing one shattered heart
and the question was not how to fix a broken heart
but how to live best with your tiny fragment.

Because his love was beautiful
the blazing stars had grown small
his thriving vale was a forgotten patch
and the elephant bird was no more.

Envisioning a shallow slope of progress
he took steps along the gradual hill
but communicating like everyone else
through logos and slogans
movement was impossibly slow.

He learned the old lesson during celebration
he could just as easily have died ignorant
revellers searched his eyes en passant
'keep calm and carry on' they seemed to say.