[Patacara recalls the Buddha's words:]
"You don't know
	the path
of his coming or going,
that being who has come
	from 	where? —
the one you lament as 'my son.'
But when you know
	the path
of his coming or going,
you don't grieve after him,
for that is the nature
	of beings.

Unasked,
he came from there.
Without permission,
he went from here —
coming from 	where?
having stayed a few days.
And coming one way from here,
he goes yet another
	from there.
Dying in the human form,
he will go wandering on.
As he came, so he has gone —
	so what is there
	to lament?"

Pulling out
	—completely out —
the arrow so hard to see,
embedded in my heart,
he expelled from me
	—overcome with grief —
the grief
over my son.

Today — with arrow removed,
	without hunger, entirely
	Unbound —
to the Buddha, Dhamma, & Sangha I go,
	for refuge to
	the Sage.