Poem for a Facebook Friend

It was poem enough

Of roughed up sort

When first spoken in

Unpolished terms

To my FB friend

Jacek Dziubinski

Getting off the train

Is the first and most

Important thing

Any of us can do
Grasping at metaphor

Proves to be the key
Of every sound translation

Whenever we contemplate

Space-time travel
Whether by cloud soaring
Or otherwise

Soon enough it is not 

So much poetry as clarity that counts  
Most in not leading us astray but

Towards deeper understanding

I don't mean to brag or boast
There’s so much help each of us needs

To complete our appointed tasks

But where do you think

It’s most likely

To come from

Nowadays

Not from some college

Of cardinals or birds

Of whatever dharma

Who happen to flock together

Nor from the ivied campus of Harvard or Yale
No matter what language you choose

My friends it’s much more likely

You’ll reach some reasonable
Level of comprehension
Of whatever poem or holy scripture
You happen to be grappling with if you
Do it entirely by your own surmise
(like some later day Martin Luther
stuck in a bathroom stall)
Along with considerable help from

Wikipedia and Google Translator 

Making it that much more
Of a congenial spot

To mark the beginning
Of any truth revealed

So now there's no excuse
And hopefully you too
Will soon get started
Building the itinerary for
Your own westward Journey