Shangri-la

Oh! That I were cast off, marooned

On some desert island cocooned

TO spend my life’s brief span alone

Far from the maddening strife I’ve known

Oh! That I were free, could erase

These ceaseless torments that retrace Pains endless, sufferings sans grace;

And, in solitude, find solace

Away from it all, from all woe away Where misery’s scepter holds sway; Where lies crushed the human spirit ‘Neath the trod of cold hard habit.

Oh! Let me live, Oh! Let me learn

How to quench these hungers that burn;

Let me seek, let me strive and find

The Nirvana where no ties bind

Beyond the shores of mankind’s reach,

I’ll divine what the sages teach,

Life’s higher purpose, truth sublime,

One stark sunrise would illumine.

Oh! Let me breathe freedom’s sweet air Savour its myrrh then let me dare

To view alone the Heavens unfold

And reveal to me bliss untold. Unfettered, unchained, with my soul so unbarred I’ll face the forces, I’ll emerge unscarred;

I’ll brave the tempests and it furies balm

As it lash ‘gainst my untroubled heart’s calm On the plains of untrammeled human thought, I yearn to learn what the Buddha has taught; Conquer desire to render sorrow nought, Outsoar the fates that my karma has wrought. Let Mara with his sirens tempt,

Maya with her daughters attempt

To lure me from that one intent:

To dare behold the ultimate.

Awake and find enlightenment.

No more shall they resurrect this home ‘gain For me to languish in exquisite pain;

No more shall this frail, perishable frame House the demons that make the soul deprave Where ignorance urge more riches to crave Trapped in the vortex of desire’s rant And rave; E’en whilst knowing it leads beyond the grave To repeat the cycle that but enslave

The ceaseless torments none can allay:

The endless cycle of birth and decay

Now on these steeps let my isle ‘fford

Me to dins my idyllic ‘bode;

Create Shangri-la at Heaven’s door

Leave sorrow stranded in the shore:

And know no more this earthly woe.