find a place you care to hide or pretend to and

emerge as if you had not seen rugged earth, sea of sky,

that face that shines with delight as it did for years before,

as if this moment you found what you were looking for

and air streaming between all points flows true and bright.

If you ask me,

awaken and feel that life charge of signals and

note their migration from toes to heart to head

as if you are on a journey you’d prayed could happen

and flush of day claims consciousness as you rise.

If you ask me,

settle into your hands the fine bulk of another hand

like the soft body of a small being, tenderly and firmly

as if the warmth pressing into yours is meant to be honored

and little matters more than your touch saying so.

If you ask me,

explore don’t sulk, lift don’t push, embrace don’t crush

for we stay alive for the simplest reasons and they are paramount

for a happiness we are meant to know and meant to give away

and a single moment can change the whole.

If you ask me,

love even when it falters or hurts or bewilders,

even when it fails to get where you planned it to land

in the scheme of all, for you don’t know when time is up-

if we are honest we see how tenuous the line that tethers us.

Live like your relentless heart,

your wrestling soul is sacred,

a chalice full of all the good you are

if you ask me