If I Were A Bomb

This piece is from Zen master Thich Nath Hahn, which I first came across in Mushin's blog (at Zaadz):

If I were a bombready to explode,

if I have becomedangerous to your life,

then you must take care of me.

You think you can get away from me,but how?

I am here, right in your midst.

(You cannot remove me from your life.)

And I may explodeat any time.

I need your care.I need your time.

I need you to defuse me.

You are responsible for me,

because you have made the vow (and I heard it)

to love and to care.
I know that to take care for meyou need much patience,

much coolness.

I realize that in you there is also a bomb to be defused.

So why don't we help each other?

I need you to listen to me.

No one has listened to me.
No one understands my suffering,

including the ones who say they love me.

The pain inside meis suffocating me.

It is the TNT

that makes up the bomb.

There is no one elsewho will listen to me.

That is why I need you.

But you seem to be getting away from me.

You want to run for safety,

the kind of safetythat does not exist.
I have not created my own bomb.

It is you.

It is society.

It is family.

It is school.

It is tradition.
So please don't blame it on me.

Come and help;

if not, I will explode.

This is not a threat.

It is only a plea for your help.

I will also be of helpwhen it is your turn.

http://basicindia.typepad.com/basicindia/reflections/index.html