I Am Tibetan

(Terry’s Signboard)

I am Tibetan because the blood of the martyrs of Tibet spilled

into my hard heart and made it soft.

I am Tibetan because in our tent in Bodh Gaya,
the prayers of the refugees
to Buddha, to the deities, to the mountains, to the sky,
and to the clouds reached my ears.

I am Tibetan because the tears they cry for their Mother Land
fall out of my eyes.