i
Darkness was total in the obsidian chamber;
only momentary glittering of distant stars
on reflective rock floor.
In those brief instants,
he stretched,
stretching to reach
tiny raindrops of hope.
’Til eastern sun crept into precipice,
illuminating the passage out
steep & rigorous – sheer at times
climb up a craggy cliff-face;
he stretched,
stretched toward a rock
testing its stability.
As high noon faded toward evening,
his climbing skills, he was finding,
weren’t quite up to snuff;
so he dropped back to cold bottom;
he stretched,
stretched into sleep
& expansive mist of heavens.
As new light grew, his body ached
but he pushed himself off the floor,
craned his neck skyward
& re-evaluated the course;
he stretched,
stretched his old body
& found its litheness acceptable.
Light after light,
he pushed himself off the floor
& stretched;
Night after night
he lay on his back, gazing on stars;
he stretched,
elongating body & soul
in space outside time.
& the day came to stop stretching
& resume climbing, finding support
in previously unstable footholds
& reinvigorated vitality;
he stretched,
stretched for a grip
& rock after rock fell below him.
Light after light,
he climbed ’til his body ached
& stretched;
Night after night,
he lugged himself onto ledge
& stretched
arrows of ideas
shot in her direction.
Nearing top, he flexed his neck backward
& saw her standing on opposite cliff-face,
crimson sari fluttering in wind,
piercing eyes reflecting last rays of sun;
he stretched,
stretched his body
out of the canyon.
March 2008
ii
All body aching,
fingers stretching,
finding lip of
abysmal cavern.
The tired yogi
hoists himself heavily
onto the earthen edge
& stretches onto back.
Illuminated by the sun
shining high above
& breathtaking blues
he has not seen
in many moons.
No longer climbing
from darkness & despair,
surrounded by beauty
golden goddess singing.
Treetops arcing
into cottonball clouds;
birds soaring high
in rhythmic circles.
Like the breath circulating
through his body
in cyclical ululations
as he lay in svasana.
Grass growing gently
between his bicep & chest,
as his eyes focus inward,
toward the prana of life.
Motion returning slowly,
the yogi rises to sit
legs laced in lotus;
eyes softly flit open.
Cranium craning clockwise
for a final appraisal
of the strenuous labor
that marked his ascent.
Gaze peering
beyond the tip of his nose,
to find chasm gone,
replaced by hard,
stone floor.
Neck stretching skyward,
eyes, expecting sun & skies,
find distant stars,
crepuscular moon
& craggy stone wall.
Rising like a marionette
on cosmic cord of
crown chakra,
the yogi stretches
& begins to climb.
-- November 2021