'The centre of all things zen' <br />read the city guide in front of me. <br />I summoned my soul and recited a mantra <br />but the gods were still sad, <br />and my clothes, <br />unimpressed and wet, <br />begged for shelter. <br /> <br />I entered a café, <br />and Coltrane's tunes <br />passed me by on their way out, <br />through the sliding doors, <br />vibrating the reflections <br />of the wealthy city lights <br />on the crowded raindrops. <br /> <br />The smokers were dying <br />together in isolation in the corner. <br />My ice coffee joined them reluctantly <br />and the 'healthy' people laughed at us... <br />from a distance. <br /> <br />I observed them, <br />I observed them all. <br /> <br />But through the ice cubes <br />they looked distorted and distant. <br />Or was it myself I was looking at? <br />It didn't matter really. <br /> <br />The cigarettes rolled and burned away <br />and my coffee dried out, <br />ungracefully, in the heat. <br /> <br />I left that café, <br />with my clothes still wet, <br />and, by now, tarred, <br />but I stole some of those blue notes <br />to keep my mood company <br />on its way to the hotel, <br />through the neon sutra, <br />the helpless mantras, <br />and the sadness of Buddha.<br /><br />Niko Tiliopoulos<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-rainy-evening-in-kyoto/
