at Hugh <br />as he sat at the long table in <br />the Teacher’s Center <br />having no idea <br />what words would benefit him <br />because when I thought of his misfortune <br />my stomach churned. <br />As a staunch Irish Catholic <br />Hugh had renounced <br />his only child, Patrick, <br />after he revealed his homosexuality <br />then Patrick perished of AIDS <br />without a reconciliation <br />between father and son. Four months later <br />Hugh’s wife, Mary, fell ill. Cancer of the liver. <br />She suffered for six weeks, <br />then passed away. <br />He no longer attended Mass <br />proclaimed openly <br />Satan’s dominance, <br />on earth at least. <br />One day he asked <br />what <br />Buddhism <br />said of these events. I said, <br />“Joy is the absolute basis of <br />all existence, <br />inherent in the very substance <br />and structure of matter <br />and our duty is to tap <br />into that universal rapture. When we did <br />our suffering would cease.” <br />Hugh said, <br />“Gibberish.”<br /><br />Charles Chaim Wax<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/i-stared-sadly/
