Hold Your Breath

Hold your breath. Like actually do it. Keep holding your breath until I tell you everything I have to say because I want you for one second to feel the way that I feel.

***

You have all that you need

So why is it that you so easily fall victim to the temptation of greed?

What more could you want?

To be happy is a thought

That dashes around in my mind from time to time

But never sticks because it is far too grand

To be handled by any one manned... vessel

And yet I always ask for more

I ask to be free and let my thoughts reach me in a way peculiar to most

I'll hold hands as I talk to your ghost

But as the smoke escapes

After holding it in so long it hurts

You feel in bubbling up in your throat

Ready to show its face and bare its name

But you swallow it back down as it fights your lungs

Choking because you want nothing more than to breathe

If it escapes it's real

Now, it's just in your head

But it's making its way into your heart

Afraid to move your body, paralyzed, wracking with pain

Until you let go

Exhale.

***

Yeah really you can go ahead and exhale now. Sorry about my little rant there. I Googled that the average human adult can hold their breath for about 45-60 seconds so hopefully none of you had a hard time reading that before you passed out. If you did, tell your lungs that I'm sorry.