A Thousand Senses

What if every single thing is a prayer? Anything that makes life live—what if it is all a prayer?

I make no effort to look for it—every tiny thing is irresistibly imbued. My senses are fired with delight. I have five senses, I need thousands more. Every thing gives and receives pleasure. In my adoration of a flower, the fragrances sweeten my glands and the color livens my eyes.

Because I know that love has no form and I know that my function in the world is to love, I ponder what my body would look like if all I did was love. Would it look like this? What if this is what love looks like in a body? If I choose to love every single day, will I begin to look different? Would the form of each of us begin to soften around the edges? Would our skin edges dissolve and our bodies blend together in a swirl of texture?

What if the lines around my eyes released showers of effervescent sparkles when I smiled? What if I heard music through my fingernails and danced with my eyelashes? What if I smelled with the soles of my feet and could see with the ends of my flying hair? What if all these things were really happening every moment, and I just forgot to notice? What if I don’t know how to notice? What if I perceived the universe like a jellyfish or an ant? What if their perceptions reverberated around me and I received those signals and couldn’t name them?

What if every single anything that coursed through me attested that life is ALIVE! What if under my skin were more colors than had ever been named and they were all communicating with each other with every single movement, from a whip of my head, the slow flutter of my eyelid, to the explosive lifting of my arms in a dance of praise?

— Marci Graham