THE SECRET OF LONGEVITY EXPOSED

It’s not written in the stars

in an astrological fricassee

or your ancestor’s genes

or how much you laugh or cry

or how many hours you sleep

or glasses of water you drink

or if you eat more beans

and chew more slowly

or how you detoxify

at a Five Star colonic spa.

It won’t help

to have a dog or cat,

stay lean and not get fat.

If you no longer smoke

and watch less porn,

have a cervical smear

and breasts exposed,

or balls probed

it won’t make a difference.

All that matters

is if you treasure your breath.

Shallow breathing kills you fast.

But deep breathing,

with your clavicle up

and abdomen down,

gets your breath cleansed

with life-giving air,

and you enter the stillness

where God resides

in the breath within the breath.