WAKING

I will wake in the morning -- will my breath remember me, will my spirit be returned back from the rooms' shell, caverns echoing and empty?

-- Seon Joon, "the quiet"

Because You grant it
    I will emerge from sleep
        not once but twice tonight

my spirit returning
    to alight in this body
        like a small butterfly

as I shuffle yawning
    across warped floorboards
        until my feet reach cool tile

and half-asleep
    bless miraculous
        tubes and openings

if one were to be closed
    where it should be open
        -- another clot to the brain

this time maybe
    not so gentle. But so far
        so good: the body's working

and when dawn comes
    my soul, my breath
        will be restored to me
        
for another day
    of offering praise.
        You have faith in me.

This poem was inspired by a line from Seon Joon's post the quiet, which was in turn inspired by a poem by Luisa A. Igloria.

On "miraculous / tubes and openings..." see Morning blessings for body and soul (2007) and Sanctifying the body (2005.)

On "another clot to the brain," see One year stroke-free (2007.)

On "my soul, my breath / will be restored to me," see One from the archives: morning blessing poem cycle (2012). (Some of those poems will appear in my next collection, Open My Lips, forthcoming from Ben Yehuda Press -- stay tuned.) Also see On gratitude and thanks: a sermon for the UU community of Montréal (2013.)