conscious breathing
Every time you breathe, you exhale some 25 sextillion (that’s 2.5 × 1022) molecules of oxygen – so many that with a day’s breathing you will in all likelihood inhale at least one molecule from the breaths of every person who has ever lived. And every person who lives from now until the sun burns out will from time to time breathe in a bit of you. At the atomic level, we are in a sense eternal.
Bill Bryson, The Body: A Guide for Occupants
breathing in the breath
of every being
that has been
fueled the same way
as despots and saints
breathing out the breath
that will become
part of every being to be
we are not so different
not so separate
not so alone
I take in courage and compassion
send out forgiveness and love
in case you need it
you –
my sons
Rosa the flycatcher patient on her nest
the bright orange wallflower feeding the fritillary
the garter snake sleeping sound under the tree roots
the man who tossed his cigarette butt on the trail today
the unmasked righteous person somewhere in my path
breathing out sentences nobody sees
