Reaction to the President's Speech

Afghanistan has always been at war.

The true battle is not right-left, right-wrong,
(The divisions the machine conquers with),
It is for the self, its autonomy
In the face of what appears to be not it.

The enemy that hides in the caves is always us.

In countless ways the outside world connects
As seeming source of life and love and thought,
When in fact it does just what the self requires,
It comes out of the same transparent cause.

When I pray for a soldier's safety, a child is saved.

We aim until we look inside the eyes
And see our understanding mirrored back,
And know them, the others we can't govern
As merely our ungovernable selves.

At ease, loving soldier, stand at ease.

It's time we find the truth inside the moments,
The love for others that serves as our best guide,
The gift that's in the reach of each experience,
The happiness that will always be a choice.

Every war ends in victory, in peace.