Though reluctant
when his mother insists
           on joining the sangha

the Buddha admits
women too are capable
           of stream-entering

reading these words
it is not that suddenly
           I enter the stream

it is more that I become
aware of its coolness and of
           myself pleasantly wading

then the sea appears
heaving between continents
           grey, horizonless

death-cold currents
day and night, and I
           would be a drop