Such Sacred Sensations

How it feels

when a child you hardly know

falls asleep with his head on your lap;

how it feels

to dance with a deafblind boy

until you’re both exhausted;

how it heals

when you perform her sign name

and prove that you remember,

unlike her parents;

how it heals

and hurts

to tenderly hold an eight-year-old infant

who used to recoil from all touch,

like an abused dog:

Words can’t do justice

to such sacred sensations.

But our bodies can,

and my body does,

and I am thus assured

that my body is good.