Alaya

Alaya the beautiful man
The guardian of sacred temples
Brought with him
The passion of a traveler
That led his feet
To ancient civilizations
Opened his heart
To holy and divine practice
Of mastering the self

Alaya gave birth to a name
Inspired by a vision of an angel
On a rooftop
In his new person
The spirit inside
The colorful fisherman’s pants
Investigated every religion
Joined various satsangs
Visited unchartered roadmaps
Studied the great teachings
That may not be taught in schools
Circumnavigated the world
Exhausted his resources
Mated beautiful women
And developed his confidence
In life
As he trained with dedication
In arnis martial arts

For it takes a man
To be grounded in all experiences
To master even the art of bargaining
Devour a bowl of salad for dinner
Fall in love with a cebuana
Play with night sea-bubbles
Like living beings
Sit in a banca afloat offshore
As an avid spectator
Of a live canvass of sunsets

For it takes a fully realized man
To care to listen to visa stories
To laugh at poems of nothingness
And learn to cook mong dal in
Coconut water
And eat guacamole.