A PRESCRIPTION FOR THE ART OF LIVING

Awash in the golden light
of following the golden rule,

ride in a hot air balloon over a Marin vineyard,
glide over thermals like a contented Peregrine.

Stretch when you awaken, release shoulders,
keep your knees loose and do one thing at a time.

Breathe deeply, like you never breathed before.
Fill empty spaces, release all tight places.

Listen to the child within who dances
to the calliope music of the merry-go-round.

Walk slowly, sing favorite tunes,
let your body move to the beat of the sound.

Bake bread every day. Knead the muscles
of your mate like you knead dough for bread.

Be ecstatic during the bliss of sex.
Sleep the sleep of a sated babe at the breast.

Gaze at the stillness of a pond,
and watch sleepy fish swim around.

Wander in forests. Tune up your senses.
Hold one grain of sand in the palm of your hand.

Feel the heft of a stone, the heat of the sun.
Notice the striations and shape of a leaf.

Listen to the laughter of flowers
and the sound of trees singing in the wind.

Be brave, confront all knaves lurking in shadows
like snarly black spiders.

If you can live a life without regrets
a bird will land on your shoulder,
and you will glow, you will glow,

you will glow.