The Unpredictable Mystery of Relationship

The Old Sage oversees the serene meditation
of his students, with stick in hand.

The Fool laughs at the beneficent and peaceful Quon Yin.

We are not, when alone,

as we are when with someone else.

And we are not, with every "someone else"

as we are, with any other "someone else".

Therefore, who can say what are the preconditions

for relationship?

For just as we cannot predict

how we will be with another,

we cannot predict how an other 

will be with us
when we are together.

We enter into mystery

every time we enter into relationship.

And who can say

what attributes will lead to a combination

of two "alone-ness-ess"

into a "we-ness"?

We don't even know 

what "we-ness" might emerge

in any next instant that we converge.

And in the converging,

a meeting of boundaries

and then an opening merging in the moment

with boundaries that may, at any moment
harden

and yielding movements that may, at any moment

move away

with undulatory messages

flickering between.