The Riddle

In this riddle, you must pay close attention to every word's disappearance…

Begin at the end which is also the beginning, and

here you’ll start to get free.

Walk through the door that isn’t a door but gives way to your well-worn plea.

You haven’t committed until you’ve admitted your heart has skipped a beat.

The pleasure is through the pain, my friends,

it’s a quest, but less a feat.

If you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha,

but never say his name.

The work is not to work unless you’ve given into this game.

Are you lost enough? Go further.

The morning is filled with delight.

The darkness beckons you deeper,

your love waiting by the bedside of night.

Put on the blindfold so you can see

the answers to questions that vanished.

Home free at last in nothingness,

the everything for which you’ve managed.

The beads that wrap around your wrist, they twist you in this play.

The beginning appears to summon you back to a life inside another day.

If you’re lost enough, you’ve already won,

the words were always yours.

This too, a lost coin in a river yet found,

the unknowing the gift that endures.

- Clare Johnson