A song
And a love letter
This Love Affair Long Overdue
Are you in partnership with yourself? When you want to share a thought, an emotion, a happening, or a dream, have you shared it with yourself first?
Do you check in with yourself in the morning? To ask how you're feeling? Do you respond with love and kindness? Do you listen patiently and give yourself the comfort and suggestions that you need? Do you suggest things just to ease discomfort or with the hard work of spiritual growth in mind? Do you still listen on the hard days at the end of hard seasons, when you want to turn off, when you want to turn in revulsion from the whiny voice inside yourself.
Do you love your body? Do you wash it gently? Do you touch your skin and chest gently? Feeling the reverence of the life beneath? Do you care for your teeth? Your eyes? Your nails? Your skin? Your hair? Do you laugh at your ragged image? Giving a gentle smile at your wayward lover before you fetch the shears? Do you hold yourself at night? In the morning? In the evening?
Do you clean the sheets before you lay down? You're not the same lover you were yesterday. Do you touch yourself gently? Roughly quickly, slowly. Do you ask yourself which you want, and listen to feel if you were right? Do you respond with excitement and enthusiasm when you reveal your hidden dreams, your hidden desires? Are you up for a challenge? Do you coo to yourself afterwards, stroking your shame away?
Do you sit later on a bench in silence? All the things that have already been said. Do you point out the bird that flies by to yourself. Look at its blue crest! Do you see the dappled light through the trees and sigh as you nestle your head into your breast? Do you feel your breath on your neck? When it catches, do you notice? Do you inquire, "What is it, Dear One?" Show me what in the world brings you wonder.
Listen, you are the witness to this love affair long overdue. It is not too late to send a message. To play a song outside your window. When the end comes, and you watch as you lay yourself down. Will you smile? Will your eyes crack in tears of joy?
Thank you for the life you've shared with me. For all the moments when I didn't have to say, but always knew, I love you.
Happy Friday, see you after my weekly Tech Shabbat, no screens dusk until dusk.