To What Cost?

A Buddhist monk in Myanmar wrote the following poem and asked us to share on this platform. He signs it anonymously, “Pyithu Ya Han” (ပြည်သူ့ရဟန်း).

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To what cost...
Did we let thirst dictate our lives
Did we try to abort the process of change Did we allow a life’s value to be forgotten?

To what cost...
Did we let the illusions surround us Did we give in to our fears
Did we allow others to decide?

To what cost...
Did we let the truthsayers be silenced
Did we let the alternatives be destroyed
Did we let our differences become a burden?

To what cost...
Did we let honesty turn into a problem
Did we allow our conscience to stop feeling its way through Did we allow excuses to stop us from acting?

To what cost...
Did we let the wounded withdraw into bubbles Did we let the unwholesome turn into the norm

Did we pull ourselves back from society as a whole?

To what cost...
Did we lose ourselves in the depths of screens Did we let the online stream numb our senses Did we turn into spectators to our own story?

To what cost...
Did we let the silence get drowned in noise
Did we let our need for stillness be despised
Did we let the simple life’s beauty become unsung?

To what cost...
Did we allow us to settle for empty words & gestures Did we allow our reflections to end
Did we allow our memories to halt a new future?

To what cost...
Did we allow now to become later or never
Did we allow time to split us apart from the present moment Did we forget our history of the past?

To what cost...
Did we keep feeding the drama of conflict Did we let hopeless patterns be repeated

Did the ending never be allowed to arrive?

/Pyithu Ya Han