I love the small sounds of pleasure
people make when taking the first
sip of coffee, or when sitting at last
after standing for hours. That soft
hum of delight that escapes the lips
when someone presses a thumb
into the arch of our foot and makes
small circles on the sole. That sigh
that flies out when we step into shade
on a relentlessly sunny day. Bless these
moments when the mind can’t outbrain
the small animal living inside us, when
our untamed self slips through the cage
of decorum and groans or purrs
or moans or gasps and reminds us
beneath all our fancy syntax and
pretty words, we’re creatures,
and the body is so much more
than a carrier for intellect.
Every delighted roar and ecstatic howl
is a common language, a reminder
we are all native here on this earth,
all fluent in grateful whimper
and satisfied grunt, all of us eloquent
when we praise in our primitive tongue.