Can You Bow?

Can you bow

like a broken necklace

scattering your brightest tears?

All other yoga postures

Simply remove the stiffness.

To bend is the first freedom.

Don't just bow to the master,

bow like a bee to a grain of pollen.

Genuflection of a thirsty panther

by a water hole at sunset.

Snow melting into mountain

stream laughter.

Bow down to the croak of a tree frog

in the jasmine vine at midnight.

To the plums of September
thumping the ground, showing you
the way to fall, the way to
split open and offer your juice.

Bow to the silence of the doe

who, after all, is eating your roses.

Bow to the wail of the newborn American

whose mother crossed over

the border last night.

To your own breath

and the secret name in your heartbeat,

bow down. 

Fill the hollows of your body 

with the blues of the sky.

Bow so completely

that you shatter your crown

and sow the earth

with stars.