The air that cools my face
fills my lungs also
and I breathe,
easily.
I take it in and expel it out;
but do I…
or does it do it all on its own?
In, out…
out, in…
easily keeping me
alive, comfortable, peaceful.
Until
it becomes a struggle
when my nose is stuffed with sickness
or I am forced to run in fear
then I gasp and wheeze and labor
the in and out revealed.

So easy is our breath
like the tick, tick, tick of the clock we no longer hear
until it stops the tick
until the time draws near…
when the shallowness of our physical being
reminds us that our breath is not ours
it really never was…
we can try hard to keep it
to suck it in desperately
or we can let it go to the world
dispel the darkness in our release
invite the light in acceptance
allowing our end to come softly…
the beauty of Your beginning.