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DEEP, UNCERTAIN BREATH

octoberprojectmusic

April 2

There is a dance
In the words I dare not speak out loud
I hold them silently
Inside
A confetti of movement
A wild ride

A parade of lost battles
Hollow victories
I have finally won myself back from

I no longer wish to live in trenches
Sleep on benches
Chewing on the last regrets I kept
To keep from starving for love

Sometimes poison is an elixir
That pretends to nourish what it kills

I am tired of the cheap thrills
And terrible buzz of chemistry
I have felt in all my battles
Love-hating you

Today I stop debating you
And I offer you
Quiet love

I offer you sunshine
The smell of the earth
The bees on the flowers
And the names that can no longer be read
On the old grave
Of the young mother who died in childbirth

I offer you everything nature gave me as a gift
Instead of you
I offer you what the bees leave behind
The honey residue

There is a fictive dance
In the words I will not speak
But they are no less real in my heart
Beating their meaning sensate

What a miracle:
No two beats alike
As you fill me with a memory
Life completes itself
And atoms strike
Apart

I choose to hold my silence
And feel it beating red

I choose to remember
The beautiful, strange power instead
To love life
To accept death
And to smile
Into a deep, uncertain breath

© 2024 Julie Flanders
Photo Credit: Ryan Moreno
April is Poetry Month Day Two
To learn more and ENTER our 6th annual poetry contest, please click here: https://www.octoberprojectmusic.com/poetry-contest/annual-poetry-contest