nothing more, nothing less

I was raised to believe,
But threw that aside long ago,
The particular flavor of Buddhism,
Followed by my mom and grams,
And our families in the Northeast.
Maybe it was wildly skewed,
Lost in translation,
As I grew up in Detroit,
Maybe she knew and understand,
But couldn’t quite convey the message.
My language and my understanding,
Stunted and deformed by thousands of miles,
Separation divided by time and space,
Multiplied by context,
Subtract the useless and carry the remainder.
Death now equals nothing,
Nothingness and nothing at all,
Empty corpse and devoid of belief,
Rotting flesh, spirit gone, gone, gone,
Carried away by the wind.
So what remains but ashes,
What value is there within,
When nothing ever remains,
What becomes the point of anything,
If everything has no meaning?
Did I give my children life,
Only to have them die alone,
Dragged them into existence,
Kicking crying and screaming,
Just to abandon them at death?
Did I fill their heads with empty promises,
Empty beliefs and fairy tales,
Only for them to curse me,
On their deathbeds years from now,
With their last gasping breath?
I want to apologize to the three of you,
For feeling this way right now,
For not believing and not teaching,
For bringing this on you,
But I knew nothing at all.
I selfishly brought you here,
To quiet my own fears,
Brought you into this life,
To fill the emptiness within,
To give my life meaning.
I never loved or lived,
Until you three came into my life,
Nothing else matters quite as much,
So even though I believe in nothing,
The three of you mean everything.
I don’t have any advice about this life,
Do what you love, love what you do,
Be true to yourself and be kind as well,
Since every single one of us,
Is stuck in the same mess.
Do the right thing,
Build the life you want,
Make this world beautiful,
Not just for yourself,
But for everyone else.
We all are exactly the same,
Cut from the same cosmic stuff,
What we do to each other,
We do to ourselves,
Nothing more nothing less.
Do not underestimate the power of love,
The true power of compassion,
If you believe in nothing else,
Believe in these things,
All else fades away.