Work out—
Let your body speak:
Flesh stretching,
Fibers straining,
Blood pounding,
Mind alert.

There’s a list—
Push-ups, planks, presses—
Each one chasing the same prize:
Strength.
Discipline.
Endurance.

But one remains unsung,
Unseen in gym mirrors,
Unlisted in fitness charts,
Unshared across the globe.

It is the exercise of the unseen—
A sacred training:
Prayer.

Not whispered ritual,
But a fire-breathed posture—
Spirit clenched,
Soul bending,
Body bowed low.

This workout unbinds:
Spirit ignited,
Soul awakened,
Mind renewed—
A trembling reach
That brushes the robe of God.
Spirit meeting Spirit,
Deep calling unto deep.

They call it prayer.
But I—
I know it as sweat of the soul.

For while the body gains little,
The one who presses through to touch the Divine
Is changed.
Expanded.
Exalted.
Magnified.

Oh God, I already knew from the first moment I met you that I would never be like the kids of my age: every night I went to my knees and prayed, it was not a prayer of peace, nor of tranquility, in fact I remember crying and sometimes screaming: ''My God deliver me from this flesh, from this sinful body and let me go with you''. Meanwhile the sweet little friends of mine slept in their homes, not knowing anything.

"I don't think he was on his lunch break, he was still on the job as he couldn't get time off for Ramadan."

"Yes, he was fasting, still on route and could not get of, so with the need to pray, he chose to do so within his short break before he changed routes."

" Wisdom to him was knowing that he must pray."

"The room was dark and his skin was a shadow that could be seen by those who noticed and looked closely."

" I noticed, so I looked closely.
He placed the newspaper down on the ground."

"?"

"At first I thought it was the wipe up the ***** that could have found but then he knelt down."

" I was puzzled and I knew my face showed it ... so I watched him, my head cocked to the side, eyes fixed, I chose to reside, I was conscious of those around me, buses that passed slowly, but, he had me fixed, awestruck, so I chose to reside."

"He bent over, head down, mumuring words; I could not make out the sounds."

"And then he stood up, head down, head up, I could not make out a sounds."

" I knew I should have looked away, that it was a private moment and I was disturbing it, but I was not the middle man for his prayers."

" I was the onlooker, curious of  the man who made a newspaper his prayer-mat and the bus, his prayer-room."

" So I watched, three minutes go by, eyes fixed, this one kid sees me staring and follows my gaze, tracing it back to the earnest praying man."

" Then he looks with me, then it's us, it's us watching him; the man on the bus with his paper-mat."