The Buddha Replies

Why me she cries,
Why did it have to be my son?
He was so young and sprightly
His life had just begun.

Why he? Just what had he done?
To deserve an end, why not somebody else's son?
Master tell me, I have come to you
Seeking an answer to my question,
Who else can help me besides you?

You are the divine master
Enlightened and worldly wise
I know you can bring back
My dead son in a blink to life

Please do me this great favour
That my son's long life I may savour
Please Lord bring him back to life
For my sake and for his wife's

The Buddha listened silently
While the lady in grief shook violently
Dear Lady he said in a voice quiet and calm
Lady, calm down, I'll help you
His words worked like a balm

But if you will first fetch me some rice
From a home at any price
Where never a dear one was lost
I'll revive your son at any cost

The lady went from house to house
"Lady last week I lost my spouse"
"I lost my dear father"
"Yama took away my brother"

or"I lost last year my wife
What use my useless life"?
Plague took away my sister
Before life's joys had even touched her".

And so went on the mourning
Everyone under life's eternal strife groaning
To the master the lady at last returned
From every house having been spurned

She prostrated before the master
Very practically he had passed her
The wisdom of the worldly wise
By asking for a handful of rice

Death is the only certainty
In life there is no other guarantee
The wise therefore learn
Never for the unattainable to yearn

Life and death is a cycle
From birth to death we go full circle
Death is not life's end
But on the road just a bend

Every end has a beginning
Every beginning an end
It is to learn this eternal secret
That God us to earth has sent.