In a dream last night
I’m sitting next to a guru in India

what I was doing sitting next to
a guru, I have no idea

a crowd of Indian people sat
before us

I felt the guru most have
had some prominence

unlike Okie from Muskogee me
by comparison

a woman in the crowd asked
us what are the colors
associated with the spiritual path?

having no idea what she was talking
about and not about to make some
bs answer up, like red is the passions
white is the purity, et cetera

I deferred to the presumably enlightened
guru, thinking the colors were related
to a Hindu parable or something like that
which he would know

the guru rose to his feet as if about
to give us some pearls of wisdom
then he walked off to what looked
like a vendor’s cart and left
pushing it away

surprised, like the crowd, I wondered
if he were making something like a
profound Zen point by his actions

upon reflection this morning, I wondered
if he were a cigarette vendor like the
enlightened Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
and he was practicing spiritual theater
with his silence and walking away
with a cart, a more profound answer
beyond my comprehension.

Bob Boyd