“…as long as we have a body and our soul is fused with such an evil we shall never adequately attain what we desire.”
– Plato (Phaedo, 66b)

I often wonder

    what it means

         that God gave us

              bodies

made of bones,

    flesh, and water—

         with fingers, for example,

              to pop open sodas

for sipping on

    some hot summer

         day—or with

              eyes

to wander into the gaze

    of others—strangers,

         enemies, lovers—

              eyes, those bottomless pools

of personhood

    like celestial sparks

         shot up and shining from

              shook foil.

Or what about

    Circadian sleep cycles,

         equilibriums for

              surfing, dancing, riding bicycles?

Not to mention

    (of course) mysteries like laughter,

         sorrow, or those intoxicating pleasures uncovered

              together between bed sheets.  

Whatever it all means,

    it seems our ‘souls’ will find

         no home without water, flesh, and bones—

              without these bodies.

______

Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash