Surfaces of Survivors

Soften your gaze
and release the pressure of the day
by falling to your knees
and letting yourself drop
into your breath,
past your body
and just drift along the shore
of mindless peace.

The leather hold
you have taken
on your life
is enough to break it
in two.

Give it away
like the potter
who glazes the pot
with metals and minerals
and allows the heat
of the fire to break
what must be broken;
wait silently until it is time
to touch
the cool
burnished surfaces
of the survivors--

a relief
at the chance
to start anew.