Dear complex, unknown and unknowable Body,
Please, I implore you, do what you're supposed to do,
Function as you were meant to on a good day,  
Yes, on the best of days.
Help us to live in health and in peace.
 
Dear delicate, fragile, ultimately terminal body
Wracked with trillions of microscopic bacteria, 
Viruses and countless other bugs
All unknowable and unknown,
 
Don't even consider going your own way
Diverging from your job of 
Protecting us from diseases,  
And keeping us alive.
 
Don't - in a reckless moment -
Hang around with the wrong kind of friends,
Toxic invaders who will charm you for a moment 
And then steal our well-being and destroy us.
 
Don't be tricked, faked out, 
By false flags that seem like enemies
And over-react like an anxious child,
Messing up our metabolism, respiration, heartbeat, 
All because you didn't discern 
Imaginary threats from real ones.
 
Please, I beg you, take care of us!
Stay vigilant, but not hyper-vigilant.
Take care of us as you have done
When you were on your best behavior,
When you were at your peak,
When you were in your wisest time of our lives.
Hold those moments in your every cell;
 
And give us time to love longer,
Deeper, unselfishly, fully, 
Give us time to help repair 
Our tottering, broken world. 
Time to be present 
In balance and ease 
 
Knowing full well that all 
Of life's moments are
Complex, unknowable and unknown.
 
                    Namaste, Namaste. 
                            Amen 

~ Shauna Smith