In response to The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt: Breath
Breathe!
© April 17th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
Inspire me!
My vision fails, and
My limbs are weak.
And all I hear is
My dog barking.
I am hungry. I care
Only for food, and its
Atavistic satisfaction.
I wish to know how
To shape this day,
Stretch its sunshine
Into a perfectly folded
Sandwich, and eat it.
Respire deeply.
Meditate on your
Vision of a world
Without famine.
Go out, and gaze upon
The shy daffodils,
The narcissus and the
Hyacinth, now making bold
With the Spring-light,
And flaunting their young
Beauty in the amorous breeze.
Aspire to your other self –
Lying among the beaches of
The Milky Way, starry-eyed
You reach lazily for a cluster of
Constellations to nibble – ah
Just out of your reach!
Think not of unfinished work
(It will happen.)
Think not of goals you’ve
Misplaced or forgotten.
(Were they important?)
Think not of age creeping
Slyly up on you,
Stretching your cheeks,
Softening your chin,
Pulling at your eyelids.
Time is jealous of youth.
(Who cares?)
Do you see your other self?
See? She smiles, stretches
Her galactic hand to you.
(Go on, grasp it!)
Suspire deeply:
When you are flung back onto
This sun-flecked present,
While a chickadee and a finch
Take turns at the bird-feeder,
Grateful for food; suspire, and
Remember your hunger
Sigh at your vast satisfaction
When you taste bread.
When the tedious days
Pull at your limbs, as the sun
Moves drunkenly through
The blue-saturated sky,
Go upstairs, leg dragging after leg,
Fall on the bed in slow motion,
Snooze and dream a happy dream
Of rabbits in Spring.
Conspire with me now:
How do we arrest this day,
Weaving a gossamer net
Of sunshine and flowers
And bird-song and slow hours,
Pull her to shore,
And still live long?
Harness the Sun, tempt his horses
With apples and grass,
Then recline and dream away
This lovely day.
Alas, it transpires that I have
Tedious tasks, and so do you.
We cannot linger, we must go.
The birds can dream, and so too
The dog, who gazes out full of
Joy this beautiful Sunday.
And before I expire from the
Loveliness and the quietude,
I turn at the knock on
My door. The day beckons.
Go outside! Walk the dog!
Spirit, mine,
Be gentle. Breathe quietly.
Let this day be long.
Let me walk in peace
Among the tall trees.
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