From New Buddhist Poetry by T J Dayhuff, posted on Facebook:

Ancients thought a self constrained by ego
to be dwelling in ignorance,
shackled to an identity based on distinction,
rather than the manifold connections to the Large.
Enlightenment was prescribed
not as destruction of the ego
– forsaking all for the beggar’s bowl
but as making it transparent.

We are the thinking monkeys, after all,
and the ego as a tool of survival
has served evolution well
just be vigilant for the illusion of separation . . .”

ponderously I muddle – dodging traffic

as someone gestures rudely when I cut him off.

“Ah, bugger on,” I mutter.

Count to ten, Momma said, way back when,
and I think:

Momma knew.