A Handful of Rice

Only a handful of rice
is the harvest’s yield.
The whole world
hungers for it.

What is one’s share,
how much to be cooked,
how much to be given in alms!

Then, from where will come
the seed for Akshaya-tritiya
the day of sowing?

Barn, harvest yard,
field, oxen, sickle, ploughshare,
mouth, hand, stomach,
navel,
mind, consciousness,
light, water, wind, sky
the god, and, above all, the soil —
whomever you ask about it,
all of them keep mum.

Only a handful of rice
is the harvest’s yield.
Once the chaff is culled
the rest is just sop
for the sacrificial lamb.

A HANDFUL OF RICE