Strength to bend

You who find

Your throat closing

Do not rush your grieving

There is too much time for talking

In our world of saints sinners, bullshitting

Olives drenched in cocktails do little

To ease the catch in the middle

Where you once knew the steady

Rhythm - how to push pedal towards metal

You who find

Tightness encroaching

Keep the lightness by breathing

Both directions

Only gently pausing

Best not to be running now

Lay down your weights

And your whips –

(Fear not!

They will be there tomorrow!)

But today

Take to the hills and wander the fields

Of sheep and stable stones and small flowers

And remember your place in this world.

Not amongst the chatter

The problem solving

And kvetching

The whining gossiping posturing

Do you belong

Not among the flurry

Of models and fashion

Nor the abstractness

Of models and theory.

Fire in the dark wood

Tea and soup and bread

An ancient memory

Of an even colder time

And even then

you were held, warmly.

Tightness harshness

throat closing -

what a fragile thing

the neck

holding such a heavy burden

as the heart in your head

It doesn't take too much pressure

in the wrong place

to send you to your knees.

Strength, then:

to bend.

to fold prayer-like onto the floor

the water in your body

remembering gravity.

Returning to your first longings

of belonging.