Kneel before a friend and wash her feet.
Punctuate your service with a kiss.
Embrace the caustic January cold.
Cherish the brunt of dankest, rankest summer.
Wish your enemies peace and inner health.
Pray that they are graced with purest hearts.
Try not to step on ants, those noble workers
constructing labyrinths of sustenance.
Sing crazy words to old familiar tunes,
shout nonsense to the battering wind and rain.

Breathe beside the boisterous Atlantic:
dance lavish and ecstatic, proud and free.

Be scientific. Intimate. Be still.
Sit in your if. Delight in your between.
Listen to others, yes. Esteem their words.
Be teachable. Be taught.
Admit when you've been wrong. Accept correction
as the most glorious of heaven’s gifts.
Stand undiminished in the face of curses.
Greet praise and blame with affable gratitude.
Spell out your secret and most blushing loves
in wordless poems and unspoken prayers.