Xiaoly Li

MIND BODY DUET

Body: When I was born, my silhouette etched
against the sky, your natural soft radiance
bathed my every cell.

Mind: I was not aware of you or me
back then, just air, just play.

In the verdant years, you brimmed
rivers of blood, pulsated volcanic energy.

Yet you drained me ceaselessly,
like siphoning an endless ancestral wellspring.

It was your thirst
that could not be doused.

Your appetite for sweeter nectar
tempted and lost me into endless toil.

You were a silent black box.

Your dirt clogged my flow, strangling
my tendons and fascia, like fish captivated in a net.
You pained my neck, arms, and back.

I thought you were strong once, an athlete.

You squeezed the breath from each of my cells,
propelled me to assail an organ.

You startled me & my inner quest begins—
Each day, I feel every inch of you & let go
of my clinging or aversion.

Lower your pace, listen to my rhythm,
reclaim our rugged terrain, our shared land.