July 9, 2025

Tender Hand Moon

Full Moon  July 10, 2025

Om tare tuttare ture svaha!

    — White Tara mantra


Yesterday I saw my bodhisattva guru on the computer

More than twenty years since he aroused my heart

& he is old

I am old but not as old

his tender hand clasped my face once

His eyes, ears and legs are old as he circles the stupa

spinning a prayer wheel, murmuring prayers

& he is committed

I am committed but I wobble

in an uneven gait through the circle of my journey

Each life a brush of wildfire

drawn through the air, through sky

a prayer that returns to luminous space

after transforming all who see it.

POEM BY
Qayyum Johnson
ARTWORK BY SUIKO MCCALL

Slowly, Slowly Moon, 2025.
Fabric powder dye on paper, 14x11"