Guanyin
she who hears the cries of the world
waterGuanyin turned back at the gate of paradise to answer every cry of suffering in the world; to dream of her is to feel yourself heard in the exact middle of your pain, and to be asked to do the same for someone else.
Fragments
In her vase is dew from the willow branch, and one drop is enough; mercy does not arrive in floods but in small, exact amounts.
She wears a thousand eyes on her thousand hands, so that no cry lands unseen and no reaching hand is ever left unanswered.
Fishermen's wives still light her lamp on storm nights, and the light, they swear, has been seen walking out over the waves.
She refused to enter nirvana until the last being goes before her; the door of paradise is held open by her patience alone.
mercycompassionlisteningrescuevow