Breathe

All morning I’ve been thinking

about the beauty of a breath,

a child’s body breathing

as she falls asleep,

a sweetheart breathing

next to us in bed,

a tree breathing in carbon dioxide

and giving us oxygen

in an ancient, astonishing exchange,

my own lungs giving and receiving

without me having to do anything.

 

Meanwhile, a radiologist tells me 

to take a breath in, hold it, release,

as he scans my chest for cancer.

Meanwhile, in a hospital bed alone, 

someone takes her last breath.

Meanwhile, on the cold ground alone,

but with untold others, 

George Floyd cries, “I can’t breathe!”

His words, their deaths, 

our loss, our failure.

 

The first struggle humans have 

is to breathe,

our next struggle is to breathe 

light into darkness–

Breathe,

and remember

those who can no longer breathe.

What do we need to take in?

What do we need to let go?

We fall, we rise. 

We inhale pain,

we exhale love.

 

–Susie Rinehart, 06/09/20