Body and Soul (for catalinamoon, who's grown up too, physically.)

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Open Poetry #31

Body and Soul (for catalinamoon, who's grown up too, physically.)

jwesley
Member Rara Avis

since 2000-04-30

Posts 7563
Spring, Texas

0 posted 2004-03-22 09:28 PM

Body and Soul

I remember when my body fit my soul.
Tight, like a second skin,
they moved, they breathed,
they felt things together,
a youthful stallion that ran like the wind,
inseparable . . . they   w e r e  one.
Years pass, things change,
age, gravity, a little more of this,
a little less of that,
and separation began.
The soul maintained,
youthful, vigorous,
slim and fit;
the body . . .
didn’t fare as well.
It got older, heavier,
didn’t want to run as fast,
bend as well,
and the space between the two, grew.
Now when running,
as the soul turns left or right,
the body tries to maintain
it’s forward momentum,
and when it bounces back
both almost topple over.
When doing calisthenics
and the soul stops,
the body’s still trying to do
straddle hops, and bends.
I remember too
when the soul loved
and the body tingled with excitement,
warmed with a heat from inside
that never felt wrong,
then lay breathless trembling
as passion waned . . .
I remember that,
how tightly body and soul meshed,
but when I look in the mirror,
I see things have changed.
When I breathe, or move,
I feel how they have changed.
But love,  in all of it’s glory,
love has remained,
and when the soul breathes,
the body breathes,
when the soul moves and feels,
the body is inseparable,
yesterday is today,
tomorrow is now,
and I love you just as I did
when body, soul, and  I
were young and vigorous,
a stallion that ran like the wind
to a love
that has grown
with the years.

w. james beard, jr.
(c) march 2004

iliana
Member Patricius

since 2003-12-05

Posts 13434
USA

1 posted 2004-03-22 10:52 PM

jwesley -- this was gorgeous, and what truth you have written about the connection between the body and soul!

Martie

Moderator

Member Empyrean

since 1999-09-21

Posts 28049
California

2 posted 2004-03-22 11:09 PM

Much truth in this, Jimmy...sensitive and sure!

Midnitesun

Member Empyrean

since 2001-05-18

Posts 28647
Gaia

3 posted 2004-03-22 11:09 PM

BRAVO!!! this is outstanding! You've captured the process we all go through (if we are the lucky ones who live long enough)

Just have to smile at this one, as I sit here wishing I had the $ and the guts to let someone smoothe out a wrinkle or two for me. NOT! It took me a long time to obtain these little lines of wisdom.

I'm keeping them.

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