Then I became Mercy with her one thousand arms; they were all I was. All over my front and from my back – I had no hidden thoughts. No time, it seemed, for the Secret. The arms were the space of me: what was my face? I tried for a delicate Korean aspect at first, but then I might as well be the cloud: am I the cloud? I’m still not sure. Having the arms one scarcely sees what one does with them. Obviously one cannot choose who one’s merciful to, one doesn't even see them! It’s all arms, arms, arms. I think it works by my simply having the arms, they are what you need; you touch one, and it’s done. You've obtained mercy, which is what? Cessation of your suffering for a time. How do I have this ability? All I can say is that I accepted the arms, the arms themselves. It’s contained in the leap from not having the arms to having them. Once you have them, that’s it.
Alice Notley, from Culture of One
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