Night clings like splinters. Sleep spins dreams of yellow air. <br /> <br />Brittle breathing raps lungs, wraps bones. <br />Breath a cackle, exhalation a storm. <br />The house creaks, sighs; bored with this wheezing panic. <br /> <br />I will sleep. <br />Will proves no match for this demon. <br />Sweat damps too-warm sheets. <br />Pinned under cloying blankets, I'm trapped. <br />I slough them. <br />Cold demands a portion of suffering. <br />I cocoon. <br /> <br />The dance continues; world reduced to single mouthfuls of air. <br />I breathe; a cacophony pulsing like diabolical bellows. <br /> <br />World noise echoes. Snap fingers, see if sound exists outside this punctured universe. <br /> <br />Shadows crawl. <br />Time passes, <br />syllable by syllable. <br /> <br />Who but me committed the unwitting Sin? <br />Am I alone? <br /> <br />Morning. <br />I offer an arm to the sting of hope. <br />Air plunges in. <br />Oh, friendly needle. <br />I inflate.<br /><br />James Mills<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/breathing-2/
