# Living Psalm 51: 1-17 Maria Mankin

Look down.
Place one hand on that spot 
just above your chest that rises
and falls. Today is for love -
and if you love nothing else
today, love this one breath.

No, you tell me, gently - today is for suffering
and self-reproach. There is nothing about love 
in these long, winter days of an election year, 
when war is a constant sickness in our hearts,
and the rights of our siblings continue to be stripped away. 
I cannot rest for a moment, or the thought of everything
I have not changed will bubble over, and I might not
have the energy to do anything about it at all.

Then you must feel that remorse.
I won’t stop you.

All I ask is that you love one breath in
and out. Beyond that, if you so choose, 
you may love the clean line left by the vacuum,
or that one friend who finally secured a spot
for her mother in a care facility close enough
for daily visits, or the silence of the car 
after the last child closes the door.

All I ask is that you love yourself for the length 
of an inhale and exhale today. After that, 
it’s a bonus if you love that V of geese flying
over the Target parking lot, the box of chocolate 
left in the break room, or those middle schoolers 
messing around in the library teen room. 

Look at you, I’ll say - look how brave you are, 
loving the sight of your neighbor walking her dog 
even though someday, both of them will be gone. 
Look how strong you are, picking up the petals
from that funeral arrangement, sliding them 
carefully into your pocket to press later.
Look how resourceful you are, finding a few bites 
to eat when it felt like the cupboard was empty.
Look at you, I’ll say. Just look at you.

Look down - just one more time for me, please.
Even without a hand to mark its rise and fall,
you breathe. There are machines that took a billion
hours of research to create, dedicated solely 
to that purpose, and yet here you are,
doing it.

You’re a marvel.
You don’t even have to hurry now, love.
Jesus will wait. Everything will wait
while you just breathe.