Connection

Each day is a gift (II)

The earth is waking up.

The ground softens
And looks more bright.
Can I soften too?

Each day is a gift.
This body, this life.
It’s more than just to merely survive.

The season, 
The challenges
Come and go.

This body,
Like this earth,
Is a gift.

It provides more than
The instruments to just
Survive and get by.

As the ground softens,
The many shades of green
Surround my senses.

In delight and insight,
Growth, 
Rebirth.

I can gift myself
With that same delight.



Connection

THE BODY

The body is a vessel
More than tracks of blood,
Veins, arteries, nerves,
Bone on tendon,
Synovial and cartilage.

It is a vessel that
Forever is learning.
It is not stagnant ever.
It holds my breath
And takes my breath away.

It mobilizes me to action,
To thought, to dream, to create.

The body is a vessel for love.
I can receive and freely give it.
I can hold another’s torso
And their secrets.

I can laugh and cry.
I can release and let go.
I can hold and embody.
Mine can twist and take shape
Intertwine with my lover.

I can stretch and realize
My edges are further than I thought.
I can smile and accept
This body that is mine.



self-care

The Unexpected Delight

After morning yoga.
After I’ve rearranged the furniture.
I’ve cleared out space
mental and physical.

I welcome the movement, the sighs, the popping joints, 
the twists, the surprising strength.
The mental games that try to
take me away from the moment.

When I arrive in my mind and body, 
I find soul full awareness.

I am grateful for this body.
For the time carved out just for me.
There is no shame
as my strong thighs hold me upright.

The meanness of cultural norms in
what a pose should look like
what a body should look like.
I honorably greet both ends of the spectrum
and invite a small smile to my lips as I inhale
and clear out the mental clutter once more.

The morning birds are making loud short bursts 
even through the soft rain.
They too must meet their needs
and feed that hunger.

It feeds my soul and theirs 
to find a shared delight at another
glorious day to be on this earth.
To occupy the same space.
Breathe the same air
and each feel free in our own way.

Free from shame.
Free from stiffness and aches.
Feeling strong and in flight as I move my body
just like the little birds outside my window. 
We may not see the sun today
but we each welcome its arrival when it greets us once again.