The Genius of Sitting
Ask yourself why
in every representation of Buddha
to be found,
he is seated;
legs crossed
offering a sublimely tranquil gaze.
Nowhere
will Buddha be found
busting his ass for peanuts
while the foreman writes him up
or manning the cement mixer
with a wheelbarrow
and shovel
on the hottest day
of summer.
Buddha is never the pack mule
hauling lumber on his one good shoulder
down where they’re building the
new subdivision
or the minimum wage sucker
along the assembly line
alternating steel toed feet twelve hours a day
to try alleviate
the back pain.
Buddha would not be caught dead
within a hundred miles of the nearest
sheet metal factory.
Laying pipe, running marathons, and stocking shelves
were never the haunts
of Buddha.
Ask yourself why?
Burgeoning layabouts such a I
never have to.
We share a wisdom of the ages
that is hard to deny:
That it is just as easy to do nothing
and prosper,
as it is to do something
and perish.