I remember what it was like to breathe
after you left the room
and time slowed
so that even colors stretched behind you in confusion
leaving me to gray shadows.
I have waited here
in the space of a heartbeat,
people like pauses
giving momentary silence
to the demons drowning me.
Your hands in my hair
bring me back to the surface
with a beautifully painful shock.
And oh I remember what it is like to breathe.
