'Yoga, Early Afternoon': A Poem by Ben Ray

YOGA, EARLY AFTERNOON

Oxford sunlight slips through half open windows,

loosens the knots of this tight-bound body

just think of the chest as a balloon:

ending with a breath.

Eye level with a teacup cluttered carpet

whose echoes of incense reminds of earlier times

remember, your shoulders aren’t earrings:

ending with a lion’s laugh.

Less a salutation, perhaps, and more a welcoming

to a world that blossoms around our flexing forms

as we arc, Cretan bull dancers, looking for the sky:

ending with a prayer

the spaces between your words burn bright in my body

this ends with a prayer

with silence

peace.

---

Ben Ray is an award-winning young poet from the depths of Wales, UK. His work has been published in various online and offline journals, and his second collection, 'What I heard on the Last Cassette Player in the World', is being released in 2019 with Indigo Dreams Publishing. He loves sharing his writing, is often to be found performing and running poetry workshops in festivals and schools across the country. For more information, check out his website: www.benray.co.uk