Listen to your body, they said to me back then
Sage advice for a young man with keen hearing
So I listened, and I listened hard again
But except for an occasional burst of wind escaping
All I ever heard for sure was my stomach growling
Perhaps, I thought, this idea was supposed
Not to be taken so literally but more in the sense
Of knowing how your body felt as it moved
What aches, what pains, what cravings, what stress
So I listened hard again, but I only heard nothingness
Maybe they meant a kind spiritual knowing
Of course, I tried to hear these next
The aura crackling, the essence moving, the qi flowing
Though by that age I found I was going deaf
Any spirit escaping me with every breath
Had they indeed meant the physical me
The cracks, the pops, and the creak of knees
It’s advice today I’d comprehend absolutely
As my body now wails the music of entropy
Like the cacophony of a tuning symphony
Lanning Lee 