11/12/02

 

Is it possible to nourish both the body and the mind?

I fill my belly with calories and nutrients,

my mind with facts and figures and poetry,

and neither cease their rumbled longings.

My body demands the touch of your silken fingers

the tender comfort of your feather kiss

and yours

and yours

and yours

a whirlwind of hedonistic hunger

a desire to test myself

to stretch myself until I break.

 

My mind and spirit know that desire leads to suffering

that liberation from the spinning cycles

rests in quietude and calm control.

I am not an island—my exhalation is your inhalation.

If our breath is thus so intertwined

how can our lives be lived without

effect—the one upon the other?

 

I cannot find the lines between

undue selfishness and personal fulfillment.

When does the food of my body

become the poison of my soul?

Can your kiss bring me to a higher state of consciousness?