‘Just a Dream’ and Other Poetry by Ellen Lou

Just a Dream

I.
You vowed to descend to the world below,
In an agreement that was made.
To the mortal world others dared not go,
Yet what would happen if you stayed?
A promise to save sentient beings,
Empowered your hesitant heart.
Your compassion for all living things,
Made you determined to depart.
Within the universe a point was set,
To be the center of events.
To this point numerous immortals went,
And have stayed there ever since.
Down in the world of sin they were reborn,
Uncertain if they would return.

II.
Five thousand years of civilization,
Was the arrangement at the start.
A blueprint made for each situation,
And China would be at the heart.
How many dynasties have come and gone?
How many emperors deceased?
How many dictators have come along?
How many heroes’ breath have ceased?
Predestined relationships guide our fates,
And conduct us on our journeys.
Every life we know not what awaits,
And we leave them in a flurry.
Through millennia in this world of sin,
Our intentions were forgotten.

III.
After numberless reincarnations,
We have advanced upon today.
What was it that prompted our creation?
Only the Law can light the way.
The Great Law Wheel is today in motion,
Saving all sentient beings.
Even with the Red Demon’s commotion,
Law disciples are not fleeing.
Now we must all fulfill our destinies,
In the agreement that was made.
Don’t wait until the great catastrophe,
For by then it will be too late.
One day, this concludes, strange as it may seem,
And you’ll find this world just a dream.

Ode to New Beginnings

As the leaves whither and fall away
The sun sleeps in and hides all day.
Days get shorter as time flies by,
The year has had its last reprise;
A new beginning awaits the close,
Where it will take us nobody knows.

Ellen Lou is a high school student at the Fei Tian Academy of the Arts, in Upstate New York.

Featured Image: “Bathing Under Noble Light” by Kunlun Zhang and Xiaoping Chen. Painting description from Falunart.org: The evil Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is blood thirsty. It has killed over 80 million Chinese, including harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners. Five thousand years of civilization have been ruined. The CCP’s black hand is extending to other parts of the world and it has become a threat to all of mankind. But, the demise of the CCP is a foregone conclusion. In order to prevent people who have unwittingly joined the evil Party and its affiliated organizations from falling with it, Falun Dafa practitioners are spreading the “Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party,” which has set off a tidal wave of membership withdrawals from the CCP. This is Buddha’s compassion. Divine beings are celebrating the salvation of sentient beings.