Golfing with Friends

On a misty morning in mid-summer of Michigan,
I'm out there with a few friends on a golf course on Lake Huron shore.
The rising sun just above the eastern horizon of the vast lake,
gently and steadily, begins to warm up the hazy blue sky,
dotted with a few patches of downy clouds.
The silky green fairways and putting greens twinkle
with early morning dews and
invite a child's barefeet to be touched.
All the trees are lined up waving with their open arms, and
the air is surely softer and gentler than the blanket
I slept under all night long.
I seem so faraway from the cacophony of the city and
the sense of urgency that has driven me so long.
My body and my consciousness seem very slow waking up
from the anesthesia in spite of
this early morning welcome in a new world.
My worn out body and soul are embraced by the touch,
the tenderness I'm not familiar with, perhaps
since I left my mother's side long ago.

O, what a paradise!
O, what a lovely land of beauty and happiness!
Everything is so mild, so gentle, so soft, so kind and understanding, perhaps
except for my own heart that still carries
the residual wound, roughness, the ragged edge, left over.
You realize you've become a child or want to go back to your childhood.
You realize you are happy and fully contented.
You no longer think whether or not you deserve such a treat.
You say to yourself and your friends,
"Forget all the worries in the world and be happy.
Let everything go and be part of the fun and happiness.
The least you can do is to try."
All the slices, all the hookings, all the toppings and all the divots you are making
are merely nothing but
the bunches of beautiful circles, lines and dots
artists are drawing on a canvas.
All the serious expressions, all the moanings and groanings and
all the swear words you are uttering are merely
nothing but a few mischievous child plays and noises that
make any understanding parent smile.
O, indeed, it seems, my friends, the secret to happiness is there
if only you and I try to understand it.
It truly appears visible and palpable to you and me, and
all we have to do is to grab it.
It seems you and I just reached the summit of enlightenment as Buddha did.
It seems all you and I have to do is to smile, shut up and play
as we were meant to when we were born in this world.
A zen master would say your bottom must fall to experience
the deepest and the highest enlightenment.
My friends, I insist we drop everything to let our bottoms fall, and
watch what happens to our beings and to our swings
after losing all the anxieties, worries, fears and whatever concerns us.
O, my friends, let our hearts be freed from the pangs, sorrows and
abuses overwhelming us.
Instead, O, my friends, let our hearts be healed gently
with some kindness, some fun, some smiles and some happiness,
so let us see in our mended hearts a little bit of our old self,
a child, a glimpse of God's grace.