'All life,' said the Buddha, 'is sorrowful'; 

and so, indeed, it is. 

Life consuming life: 

that is the essence of its being, 

which is forever a becoming. 

'The world,' said the Buddha, 'is an ever-burning fire.' 

And so it is. 

And that is what one has to affirm, 

with a yea! a dance! 

a knowing, solemn, stately dance 

of the mystic bliss beyond pain 

that is at the heart of every mythic rite.