Know first the dimensions:
60 inches in length, 48 inches high
divided by a mullion into 16 panes
Closed, the window does not allow
for sound
Below the window sits
a white squat porcelain buddha
approximately nine inches in height,
though in viewing
its height seems indeterminate
Expression: bemused
The buddha resides on a mirror
atop a shining white wooden chest
with two doors ornamented by four circles
The mirror reflects everything around
and everything beyond the buddha
Not ten feet from the chest
seated on a white square ottoman
sits a man I call myself
What concerns us is not the buddha or the man
but the garden on the other side of the window
Every shade of green is there, every shape of leaf,
every color of vine, trunk and fruit,
every mix of light and pale
The window as a whole, each individual pane,
makes for an image of everything
Today, at least at this moment,
everything is there
A puzzle for the buddha and the man
is what to call the everything
And so they sit, as does the squirrel,
owl, doe, stag and perplexed child
in uncertain moments of silence,
frozen, stymied, forlorn,
as behind immutable barriers of glass,
waiting,
for a word, a sound, a name,
something, anything