To bite down on the very thing itself
that gives shape to our sounds, voice
to our breath? Holding the idiom close
one would think what we’d say was so
powerful, it required warding off in a
deliberate act of self-harm—and yet
the bite is most often accidental. O
Friend, my wish: please let it shape
every syllable, every blessing and chant
you need to nourish yourself, and if you
bite your tongue let it not be to hold
back, let it be no accident, but rather a
gift of Buddha-heart as it greets your
Buddha-nature—“Che le sa, che le sa.”
