Gentling the Human

There are five holy places in the body:

the heart, the spirit, the secret, the mysterious,

and the deeply hidden.

These are the ones with the power

of gentling the human.

And the human is clouds,

lung, mist, and heart,

a pulse at the wrist,

and the spirit

which belongs to the mountain,

and since it’s said we come

from the east

where first life might pass

over a lake one day

or drift toward the ocean like the wind

it came from,

or follow a slant of snow,

and then there may be one of these,

a place

where the spirit sets down.

It’s said, too, that we come from the wind,

born from it, yet we are given flesh

and bone, the milk teeth which fall

when a child passes through.

A human is breath,

current and tide,

yet merely

a woman of light,

a man of fire,

the bare skin so vulnerable,

fragrant and leaf-blessed as we are.

Here she comes, walking.

Here he is, as if

undressed from the body,

as if the abyss were beautiful

and nothing there could hold you down.

This is the time when the spirit has no need for teeth

and in the time it takes pollen to light

the wild world tames us.

Oh, it is so soft and full, the human now,

and suddenly you are in the clearing.

To the east is the mountain

with sweet, sweet rain.