Gentle words
Understand that it is ok
to comfort yourself
The small sounds of the tv
playing the voices of friends
you have come to know well
is not a wrong thing to listen to.
It is ok to sit on a soft surface
Sometimes you need to take on the
posture of a slightly crumpled infant,
held up in a sitting position
to look with large black eyes at the world.
This is often better than
a futuristic chair
even with all its knobs.
It's ok to soothe yourself
with the feel of soft blankets
and almost painful bathwater
that makes you sweat through your hair.
Yes, it's ok to light candles.
Tiny fires in big darks,
small warm tongues
that murmur gentle words just out of hearing.
Why do we deny ourselves
these small, soothing pleasures.
We would not deny a baby
though their needs are the same
as ours.
Jobs, age and time in this weird world
do not change that.
My thin veins have thrummed
with Puritanical blood.
I have associated soothing with sin
though my body and spirit
are in want of such tender care.
Do it!
I will, now.
Ah, the beads of sweat
begin to form.