Relax

Relax

Let things run their course.

For those mornings
when my sides ache,
but not from laughing,
rather because of yoga
and the twisting of my body
until the inevitable release
of that long-stored tension
shoots pain down my spine,
I have this meditation.

I also have Advil
and the desperate hope
more yoga might help.
Yet after several days struggling
just to stand on my feet
and even to sit up straight,
I return to that lesson
wise spirits have been trying
to teach me all along:

Relax and do very little.
There are some things
which cannot be remedied
by trying harder.

---

I am like the sick sheep
that strays from the rest of the flock.
Unless the Good Shepherd takes me on His shoulders
and carries me back to His fold,
my steps will falter,
and in the very effort of rising,
my feet will give way.
~ St. Jerome