The Breath of Love
*In Off-Leash Writing Workshops, I often use poetry to inspire our writing. This poem of mine was inspired by the poem Gratitude List, by Laura Foley.
Praise be to cold water, sliding down my throat
Praise be to the moments when my younger son smiles at me, no device in hand
Eyes meeting each other across clear thin air
Praise be to the moments when I see my older son fully
in all his sweetness, bravado, and vulnerability, unobscured by his fears or mine
Praise be to the hot tub that holds me so gently in its liquid embrace
Praise be to friendship and the laughter it brings
Praise be to the changing seasons, the buds peeking out
The luxurious greens of summer
The riotous red-gold carnival of fall
The bare filigree of winter
When the world turns black and white
Praise be to the sky that’s gray all day, then suddenly bursts out blue
Praise be to the dogs who are always up for a romp or a cuddle
Praise be to the heart that loves
Praise be to the ways we keep trying, in the face of all things
Praise be to hope or the absence of hope
To facing whatever is true
And keeping on
With or without hope
To waking and whispering, You got this
To waking and thinking, Let me embody love today
Let me not lose my temper or my will or my way
Let me do the next right thing
And then the next
Let me love this world
Imperfect as it is
Imperfect as I am
Let me love these people
These dogs
This home
This corner of the earth
This life
Not some other, imagined life
but this life, the one I have.
Praise be to those moments
Of embodying love completely
If only for half a breath
Praise be to those moments of peace
Wherever they occur
In a quiet meadow
On a busy corner
In a concert hall
A restaurant
A forest
A home
Praise be to peace
Within a single heart
The heart of all beings
Beating together
If only we could awaken to love
If only wars would end
If only the earth could rejuvenate
If only we could quell our greed
Our hatred, our ignorance, our fear
If only
If only
If only
Praise be to the trying
To the waking, the facing, the doing
Praise be to the breath of love
Wherever, whenever, however
It breathes
If you enjoyed this post, you might also enjoy my poem, Doing Yoga with the Buddha