All night long the java monkey sits
Waiting for you to fix your grits.
He drums his fingers, rattles his cage.
He's the midnight master sage.

Java monkey, java monkey,
He's my bud.
Java monkey, java monkey,
I'm a real lush!
Java monkey, java monkey,
Cuban mud.
Java monkey, java monkey,
Two bit rush!

Straight or sweet, with or without cream,
He tightens the screws in my living dream.
Dispensing his communion in my bloodstream
With the speed contained in his holy bean!

Java monkey, java monkey,
He's my bud.
Java monkey, java monkey,
I'm a real lush!
Java monkey, java monkey,
Cuban mud.
Java monkey, java monkey,
Two bit rush!

________________________________________
©Seth Kahan. Reprint with attribution welcome.

I met a man from inside
Staring into his mind.
Eyes rolled up and white,
Sir, please be kind.

Share with me your treasure;
Share with me your gold.
Teach me what to measure,
Show me how to grow old.

I stayed with him for a decade;
Together we followed the sun:
Many shades of heaven,
All of them becoming one.

Storms would come and then rage;
Our bodies the wind would pound:
Rain beating the sage,
Our souls intermixed with the ground.

The years passed like flowers,
Blooming and dropping the seeds:
Hours upon hours
Fulfilling the basic needs.

Time came time to go;
My journey had just begun.
I kissed him on his brow;
He watched the sun.

I now know how to grow old;
With time I will not fight.
My treasure is now full;
My work is clear and in sight.

I met a man from inside
Staring into his mind,
Eyes rolled up and white,
Sir, please be kind.

____________________________________
©Seth Kahan. Reprint with attribution welcome.

He's come to drink coffee and nothing else.
After drinking, he relaxes and sits without thinking,
People come and go.
He's been doing this so long that nobody notices him.

The coffee drinker sits calmly,
not listening to himself or others; there is no chatter to listen to.
He doesn't drink gourmet coffee.
He doesn't even love coffee.
Though his table is small, it includes the entire universe.
On a patio in the city, a man participates in the unfolding of life.
Nature unfolds in him unimpeded.

Those who don't know him can't help wondering, 'Is he nuts or what?'
Conventional or not, the original seed is present, and grows without obstacles.
Held in the great interconnected web of life, it could go no other way.
Clear eyes over steaming coffee --
Luxury can't compare with it.

Just sitting with a hot cup, all things are at rest.
This coffee drinker doesn't understand anything.
Sitting here he does not seek freedom.
First he allowed his nature to flourish, then he just became nature.
The source of life can't be approached or ignored.

Follow the ancient way: drink your coffee.
Let go of society's rules completely.
All great ideas on how to live life
are only different techniques to unbind you.
If you want to be like the  coffee drinker,
don't flee your life of drudgery.
Just  wrap your hands around your cup.

---adapted from Song of the Grass-Roof Hermitage, apologies to Shitou
____________________________________
©Seth Kahan. Reprint with attribution welcome.

Long ago,
before time was measured, dissected and used like a tool,
when the earth was still soft and the animals spoke with people,
there was an old one.

She could taste the living earth.
Gently probing with her aboriginal tongue
she would tug on the skin of the planet,
feel its flesh within her mouth.
Mixing saliva and silt
she could smell the coming rains.
Her eyes knew how to watch the skydance.
Her ears could understand the laughter of the thunder children.

When the people were lost
they would turn to her for guidance.

She would crawl into a hole in the Earth the shadows called home.
It was the same cave her
grandfather had decorated with sound
so it's moist emptiness could cradle the dark.
She would dig a pit in the floor
with her bare hands,
and lay in the hollow the way a tree lies in a nut,
waiting for time and weather to feed her.

Then, she would climb back in time
hoisting herself up over the earth's memories.
She went back to a dreamtime
when the planet was covered with rivers of fire.
Baptizing herself in the lava
she burned away her fear with her body.

When she returned
she brought with her messages:
"Stars live and die in the child's eyes.
All things are connected.
The Sky is our breath,
The Water is our blood,
The Land, our bone"

She is timeless.
She is with us.
She lives in the South American Rainforest and the Arctic tundra.
She sleeps in the North American desert
and calls to her children in the African wilderness.
Her footsteps can be found in Asia and Australia
and her voice can be heard on the open sea.
Her treasures lie scattered across our globe on the islands
and buried deep within Europe's heart.
She is everywhere.

When you are ready,
taste the living earth
and you will find her
in you.

____________________________________
©Seth Kahan. Reprint with attribution welcome.