The Dalai Lama's Gentle Tibetan Buddhists
believe, it seems,
in history, truth alone triumphs,
the mystics.
What triumphs is truth
the cunning Chinese believe,
the realists,

Talking about the recent misfortunes of his country,
absorbed, concerned, but still with a smile,
the Dalai Lama one day, in Delhi
spotted on his ochre shawl a black ant.
The soft-spoken sanyasi stopped,
very carefully lifted the ant with his fingertips,
left it on the table to crawl away
and continued speaking,
still smiling.
It appears the Chinese have won now
But the Dalai Lama still waits
In Time's vast momentariness
and in its infiniteness
for truth to triumph.