Yoga
The teacher says
to feel the breath, flowing
up the spine, up the neck
where the vertebrae click
in the teeth of the ratchet
wheel, where concentration
forces spirit upward
on the hinged pawl of perfect
self-control to the
crown of the head.
Next the birds come
with their bits of straw
and fabric and thread.
In the pose of the standing tree
I am a patient bodhisattva
enduring a spring rain
content to forgo enlightenment
and be reborn again and again
in the pose of the downward-
facing dog, inhaling the fecund
April earth with first one
then the other nostril
to practice the sacred shifting
of consciousness from mind
to mind. In this disciplined
exchange of breath
we train for distance
runs at altitude,
incarnations as mountain cats
or Asian trees,
our life's breath finding
a home in every metabolic niche.
Elephant, lotus, monkey,
banyan, we bend boughs
and snouts, balancing the ineffable
as it rolls and pitches
out of these
momentary bodies.
by Robin Becker