What is your body?
PINE TREE TOPS
by Gary Snyder
in the blue night
from haze, the sky glows
with the moon
pine tree tops
bend snow-blue, fade
into sky, frost, starlight.
the creak of boots.
rabbit tracks, deer tracks,
what do we know.
Busy, busy, lives.
But when do we stop long enough to take in the enormity of what it means to be human?
Namely, to live in this decaying body — this great carriage that allows us to do so many things.
To say that we take everything for granted is an understatement, but we rarely, as I know only too well, breathe in our deeply mythic, spiritual and animistic presence.
Does that mean we’re robotic? Occasionally, but it’s more likely the case that we’ve got comfortable with our habits and proclivities to this life, as opposed to any other.
What am I advocating for?
Nothing or nothing in particular save perhaps that we stop running on fumes long enough to plant our feet on solid ground – preferably bare-footed – and take a long slow breath towards the great mystery that is our body, those that we love and all those no longer here.
Is that too much to ask?
Stay safe my weary pilgrims of these wicked times.
Much love,
Julian
Photo by ren hosoya on Unsplash