After Meditation, My Body Speaks a Poem

Do not be afraid of me.

I am your body, your smell.

I soothe you. Come close,

inhale, comfort yourself.

 

Do not be afraid. Not like

your mother who would not

bury her face in your baby belly,

afraid you’d pop and go dead.

 

Let love press its face

into your gut, your soft underside.

 

Don’t you love how you feel,

those mushy mounds. Your earth smell?

 

Don’t be afraid to love yourself.

 

Go where you love to go. Do

what you love to do. Now

is the best time. Take yourself

to coral reefs, tidepools, the creatures

of the sand.

 

Take yourself to the lands

of your ancestors. Leap into water

of turquoise. Rejoice in life’s bounty—

that richness waiting for you to

Trust, Take, Be Free.