Here’s something I wrote to my teacher on his birthday:
A Dangerous Friend
I’ve always been looking for a dangerous friend
to save me from the endless red traffic lights
and I’ve surely found one in you.
I’m scared stiff
when you drive my car and
play Chicken with the passing lumber trucks
that transport more fuel for the mahadhavagni*
and I scream of excitement when they swerve
into the ditches one after another
While you keep your cool.
You are the kind of a friend
that parents warn their children about,
Corrupting the youth
in the sweetest possible way
“Sarva dharman parityaja”**
My hands were shaking
when I signed in for the road trip
In the winter of 2005
because I knew these roads don’t have white dashes
and no one ever returns
I’ve crossed the city limits
of my home town for good
Forced by your conviction and confidence
You’ve come to offer eternal friendship
and never-ending excitement and danger
in the service and play
of the dark cowherd and his buddies.
The dirty highways of this world
are starting to turn into pastures
as you speed forward
and the cities turn into black dots
in the rear mirror.
Let’s race as far as the stolen gas takes us
and run from there to meet your dangerous friends.
—–
* A well-known analogy in our tradition of the “great forest fire of material desire”
** “Abandon all material duties”, Bhagavad-gita 18.66
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