Mind the Gap

The sign on the platform

            of the London underground

                        reads: Mind the gap.

The phraseology –

            so polite,

                        so formal,

                                    so British –

made me smile

            when I saw it

                        for the first time.

Now, I am listening to

            Tibetan Buddhist teacher

                        Pema Chodron speaking

about the bardos of

            life, death and after death.

                        She says the definition

of bardo is gap,

            the in-between state,

                        transition.

And so, I recall the instruction

            on that London

                        underground platform,

revealing the most profound

            of teachings.

                        Yes.

Mind the gap.