Another from October 2011. Even though I'd practiced yoga for years, I was still finding meditation hard. Madison, too.
I tried following my breath, but it ran away.
Exactly where it’s gone, I really couldn’t say.
I looked around the corner, I looked up a tree,
I looked everywhere that I thought it might be
all to no avail! Though, not to be too unkind,
this sort of job is just not suited to one’s mind.
A mind needs to wander, to go out on a limb,
tickle its fancy or be taken by a whim!
This meditation stuff is simply much too hard.
In fact, I suspect it’s a bit of a canard.
To center oneself through something invisible?
Why, the idea of it is, frankly, risible!
Oh! There! My breath’s come back! I do hope it’ll stay
here a while before running off another day.
For your listening merriment here: https://aprillynnjames.com/track/4770873/i-tried-following-my-breath-4-2026