My Body My Land My Home

I’ve crossed many lands,

and there are many more

my heart will guide me to

 

I will watch suns ascend

beyond great mountains,

feel the first blast of warmth,

gentle, hit my upturned face

and I’ll want to run toward

thousands more just like it

 

And the chanting I can hear

in the distance only affirms,

as I keep yearning, the

gem-like quality of this road

I have been taking

 

I will listen to the sounds

of a bustling new day still

tinged with the sweet sleep

of a community at peace,

 

I will long to be among them,

sweeping dusty roads,

performing ablutions, calling

out to neighbors, laughing,

putting the kettle to boil.

 

I will look for myself in it all,

the minarets in silhouette,

the sacred river going by,

the wizened face of a sage,

 

And I will know before I want to,

that the only land that can

sustain my earnest desire for

awakening is the land whose

borders mark the space

 

I take up in this world,

my body my land my home,

and I will finally

rest here too.

 

– TS