Poem written on New Year's Morning, 2010

The body has it's rhythms
it likes to wake up slow
pause during the day, take naps
stretch, yawn
move, run, jump
play
dance

the mind, especially the ego mind
is a tyrant
ordering the body around mercilessly
forcing it to work, work, work
almost never play

Even when the ego thinks it's having fun
I'm drinking, i'm smoking, i'm talking
i might get lucky with this woman
too often the body is saying
please don't smoke, please don't drink
i need to rest, we woke up at 6am
worked all day
get lucky at 4pm, not 2am

and worse, the ego says
I have a goal,
I want to make a million dollars
that means we work 6 days a week, 12 hours a day
Eat fast food, in a hurry
We can relax and move later, so the ego says

The body says
you're not listening
i have to get your attention, and so
a little illness, and then a bigger one
and a bigger one

Still, the ego refuses to listen
takes a pill, gets a surgery
ignores the body
doesn't even feel the body most of the time

Who spends much time feeling the sensations in their
toe, foot, arm, right side, left side
except when the attention is forcibly drawn by pain

and so
the brutal master whips the overworked slave
without nourishing and nurturing

without realizing that
slave and master is a perversion of the true relationship
which is one of equal partners

without realizing the bliss to be found
in the exquisite sensation of moving one's arm
6 inches, 3 inches, one inch, one micron
if one will only fully allow oneself to
feel fully and fully value
the sensations

there is more bliss in that
than in all the toys and doodads of the world!

some say
"he who dies with the most toys, wins"

i say
he who dies with millions of toys
and millions of dollars
yet has never been truly embodied
never felt the bliss of the air in and out of the nostrils
never felt the bliss of toe, foot, arm, side
is impoverished beyond belief
the poorest of the poor

Think about it