Sanctuary

Coming home in the evening light,
each step racking the body,
lungs filled with fragrant forest.
Entering a sacred space
high within the mountains,
seeking sanctuary;

safe, certain sanctuary
of warmth and peace and light.
Within our minds are mountains
not seen upon the body
yet real in time and space
as trees that form a forest.

Oh, to be in the forest
that emerald watery sanctuary
of susurrating space
and scintillating light
that satiates the body.
What, then, of the mountains?

The gorges and mountains
and impenetrable forest
of the mind within this body?
From them, what sanctuary?
We that seek the light
must find ourselves a space,

that solitary, silent space
made beneath the mountains
bathed in inner light
sweet and fresh like a forest.
To find celestial sanctuary
far from the cloying body

that suffocating body
in another space
that final, perfect sanctuary
free from cold, hard mountains
and unforgiving forest.
Living, loving light.

In the sanctuary of my body
I yearn for light and space
between the mountains and the forest.

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this is another sestina. Image created by hotpot.ai