My oldest friend,
and older, too,
has a daily yoga practice
of self-care,
which I would healthier emulate.
But, when I mentioned this
as rich in comparison
with my own brief leg stretches
while tube-feeding my son,
and occasional too brief dancing
and jumping
with my cerebral palsied daughter,
He responds
to my neglect of self care
with self-deprecating acclaim
for my daily investment
in young adult bodies
inhabiting wounded child concerns.
I recognize this response
in literature of sacred messiahs
and family health care martyrs
and extended family matriarchs
and secular ecofeminist mentors
of selflessness,
ego annihilation,
empty nesters,
nonself-investors.
While all such roleplays,
diurnal through eternal,
are counter-cultural,
with redemptive value
and stretching of compassion,
I question their/our capacity for resilience
as even the most cooperative
win/win co-invested economist
would question total eco-investment
through absolute ego-divestment,
outgoing care for health
while bleeding out all internal wealth
of energy
power
light.
Yoga stretches internal minds
to resonantly balance
external bodies
fully re-creating
co-acclimating
resonant resilience.
This stretching,
toning
touching
feeling
balancing
centering
communicating
cooperative empowering
compassionate enlightening
I could do with my son
and my daughter
daily,
and perhaps timelessly,
with sufficient commitment
and imagination,
creativity
and regenerative health
intent to optimize
our shared systemic wealth
Stretching from where we are
toward when we will become
together in shared passion.
