The Art of Meditation

breathe in –

breathing becomes laboured

snagging and catching before the end

 

breathe out –

the breath becomes a cry

caught on a gasp of surprise

 

sit tall –

the spine aches from holding

stories thousands of years old

 

be soft –

i feel not softness but threadbare fragility in

bone and skin that threaten collapse

 

i am falling –

but in the falling, an acute awareness

of what i’ve neglected so long

 

i am restless –

i have within me infinite little pieces

that have been struggling to be heard

 

i am suffering –

i have awakened to brilliant depths

of what it means to be alive and trying

 

i am human –

i will ache and burn as i sit with each one of us

feeling a unity in all our pain but also our triumphs

 

i am learning –

every moment, every breath in, breath out

is a change, a movement, a new leaf born. – TS