Specks

  
All my life
for as long as I can remember
I’ve had a speck
in my eye.
Actually, there’s more than one
Both eyes have specks.
They move alone
pushed by unknown currents
disconnected from the world
like water striders on the surface
of a pond.
Wherever I look
the specks follow at their own pace
swimming through my vision
back to the center
of my eyes.
At first
I didn’t notice
I was too young to know any different.
Once I noticed, I was disturbed
this is a biological flaw
so I thought.
But now
I’m grateful for
the lesson the specks remind me of
the truth about the nature
of the world.
Wherever I look
I see a roaming fly
a spot of dirt on a white wall
a bird swimming through the sky
but there is no fly
there is no spot of dirt
no bird either
just the specks
in my eye.
The buddha says:
“As a lamp, a cataract, a star in space
an illusion, a dewdrop, a bubble
a dream, a cloud, a flash of lightning
view all created things like this.”