AVANT SOUL

Breathe Deeply
(In Truth)

In truth we're fleeting spirits
    and the wind's blowing

Our time is short,
The illusion of tranquillity
  with appointments
        and obligations
That we may miss the morning breeze
    on the face of the waters

Allow me a moment to breathe, Your Eminence,
    in truth
I am but another one of your subjects,

    exhausted

Another etheric spirit,
A flash in your dream,
Your atmosphere

Is it getting chilly in here?

            These days are flying, streaming,
            These brief puffs of air,
    of recognition,
    of giving each other airs and congratulations

And though you may be jammed in traffic
Or bumper-to-bumper with all you have to do
    or say
    or sing
    or whistle
    or cough, or force out
    through smiling and clenched teeth

Biting or abiding your time,

    in truth

I'm flying through this place,
Just another vision for you to view
When you've hardly got breathing room,
    breathing space, or a breathing spell

For you to feel that wellness of being --

Transfixed to your screen of reality,
Truthfully you can't see me
And can only capture
    a shimmering haze
    of your own visage

These days to rest,
    to regain your breath,
    are trying
    the very core
    of what we ventured here to realize

Don't breathe a word of this to anyone.

When you have uttered quietly
    and allowed yourself,
    your life,
    your exhalations -- even your explanations
   
    to reach fullness of flavor and aroma,

To inhale ripe,   heady,  heartstrong,  divine,
Intoxicating speechless voiceless dazed & amazed
    glories of timelessness, utterly in repose & majesty


In truth,
    to no longer be breathing down your neck,
    to burst free from no breathing room,

To be relaxed

    and no longer "gaspless" and grasping --

Relaxed and relieved, especially

After a life of tension,


                         in truth
                         these breaths
                           pass so fiercely,
                           depart so quickly,

Mere moments of meaningless & crowded applause--

And though you may always aspire
To greatness,
Breathless,

            it's exhausting.

It passes like a blast
    of arctic wind,
A reality check
    of huff-puffery, inflated pastry
    from your flaky, tap-dancing soul,

Its currency all too fleeting


            And you may miss that breathtaking summer day.

Breathe deeply now

    your time is short
    to capture the changing lines of your face
    in an inscrutable scrim of time

Breathe deeply now, exhale every worry and misbegotten woe
That deprives you

                            of singular sparkle and shine

Breathe deeply now,

Exhale every worry
    and misbegotten woe
That deprives you of that sparkle and shine

Breathe  deeply

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