Always the Breath - March 15, 2023

there are long complicated births

and endlessly simple deaths

and the ways we speak of them

the breath in lower and

higher octaves nouns either

whispered or shouted

often with tears of relief

or grief in those

hellos and goodbyes

for life come and goes

enters and exits

with different words for arrivals

and departures

and even from the

ever-present faces of flowers

there is an escort of oxygen

into and out of here