<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="">Blessing, a story of Bhutan</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><i class="">for June</i></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Across the field of dancers</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Weaving stories</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Histories of a place and</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">People, a river of humanity swells.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">The current moves, widens</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Narrows and roars, waiting</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">All present, all craving the priest’s blessing.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">From far away, we see</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">An orderly file. Once in: an unruly</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Avalanche, a landslide of</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Bodies like logs or</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Boulders rolling,</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Crashing together.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">A crushing, thunderous throng,</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Wild and joyful, no anger.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">The current carries us</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Like flotsam, fearful that</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Scarce oxygen will evaporate</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">For children pressed against</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Parents and strangers, clumsy</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Herd animals all.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">We protect them, create</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Spaces for air to find them.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Finally, we two slip free, free</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Of the demand for that blessing</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Lose ourselves together, release</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">The requirement for magic, other</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Than the moment.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Together lost,laughing,freed from</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">The demand for a blessing</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">We wander our way</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Back across the crowded river.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">A child finds us, our</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Foreign faces,</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">confused, bemused.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">She asks, How may I help?</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">In a world where Holy is the fabric,</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">We are innocent threads woven into</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">A sacred whole. She appears</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">A tiny girl dressed in white</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">To guide us to a different light.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">We follow, wending</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Our way in the crowded chaos.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Ahead, a tiny White Tara</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Completes her task:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Awaken all the beings of the World.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">We wake to the moment, to an unbidden</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Blessing. Better than any we sought</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Because it wasn’t sought, but given.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Rebecca del Rio</div></div></body></html>